Party and the People: Chinese Politics in the 21st Century

"Since 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has maintained an unrivaled grip over the country. Despite economic calamity, widespread social upheaval, and even violence against its own people, the party has overseen the fastest economic growth in history and only strengthened its hold on power. How has it achieved this, and how exactly does the party and the government function? What is political life like for the people of China, and how has this changed over the decades of the party's rule? Is democracy on the horizon? These are some of the questions that animate Bruce Dickson's exploration of Chinese politics today. At the core of the party's practices is a dual approach--repression when faced with existential, political threats, and responsiveness when faced with more localized economic or social unrest. Yet while the regime is responsive to a degree often unacknowledged by international observers, ultimately it is not accountable to the public. The opportunity for the public to chose leaders is limited to very local levels, and it is the party itself that chooses when to compromise and when to repress. Dickson uses this lens to illuminate a number of key questions: How are leaders chosen and how are policies made? When is protest and civic engagement allowed, and when is it suppressed? Acknowledging that the inner workings of the party remain shrouded in secrecy, Dickson draws from the full landscape of sources available to lay out what we know and what the future may hold as Xi's rule extends andtakes an increasingly repressive approach to governing"--
How the Chinese Communist Party maintains its power by both repressing and responding to its peopleSince 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has maintained unrivalled control over the country, persisting even in the face of economic calamity, widespread social upheaval, and violence against its own people. Yet the party does not sustain dominance through repressive tactics alone—it pairs this with surprising responsiveness to the public. The Party and the People explores how this paradox has helped the CCP endure for decades, and how this balance has shifted increasingly toward repression under the rule of President Xi Jinping.Delving into the tenuous binary of repression and responsivity, Dickson illuminates numerous questions surrounding the CCP’s rule: How does it choose leaders and create policies? When does it allow protests? Will China become democratic? Dickson shows that the party’s dual approach lies at the core of its practices—repression when dealing with existential, political threats or challenges to its authority, and responsiveness when confronting localized economic or social unrest. The state answers favorably to the demands of protesters on certain issues, such as local environmental hazards and healthcare, but deals harshly with others, such as protests in Tibet, Xinjiang, or Hong Kong. With the CCP’s greater reliance on suppression since Xi Jinping’s rise to power in 2012, Dickson considers the ways that this tipping of the scales will influence China’s future.Bringing together a vast body of sources, The Party and the People sheds new light on how the relationship between the Chinese state and its citizens shapes governance.