Party vs. State in Post-1949 China
The Institutional Dilemma

A comprehensive analysis of a very important issue in contemporary China: the tensions between the Communist Party and state institutions.

Shiping Zheng (Author)

9780521588195, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 July 1997

312 pages, 2 b/w illus. 18 tables
23 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.478 kg

'This is an extremely interesting and thought-provoking book about the contradictions and tensions bedevilling the Chinese Communist Party and state. … the book [is] an extremely valuable contribution to a growing body of work on the party and the state. Furthermore its problematization of the ubiquitous 'Party-state' category is pioneering. Scholars and students of Chinese politics, communist and post-communist studies and public administration are well advised to add this to their bookshelves.' Jude Howell, Government and Opposition

This book provides the most comprehensive analysis of one of the most important issues in China today: the tensions between the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese state legislative, judicial, administrative, and military institutions. Taking the 'neo-institutionalist' approach, the author suggests that the Communist Party in post-1949 China faces an institutional dilemma: the Party cannot live with the state, and it cannot live without the state. Zheng demonstrates that it is not only conceptually constructive, but analytically imperative to distinguish the state from the Communist Party. Secondly, he integrates detailed study with broader generalizations about Chinese politics, thus making efforts to overcome the tendency toward specialized scholarship at the expense of comparative and systemic understanding of China. He also opens a new dimension of Chinese politics - the uncertain and conflictual relationship between the Communist Party and the Chinese state.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Understanding the state and party in China
2. Where did the Chinese state come from?
Part II. State-building under a Revolutionary Party: the Mao Zedong Era: 3. Revolution, laws and party
4. Party leadership and state administration
5. Army-building and revolutionary politics
6. Politics of campaigns: the Cultural Revolution
Part III: State-building under a Reformist Party: the Deng Xiaoping Era: 7. Reform, legal system and party rule
8. Changing party-government relations
9. Military modernization and party politics
Conclusion
Appendix A. CCP Membership Changes, 1921–94
Appendix B. Campaigns in China, 1950–89.

Subject Areas: Political structure & processes [JPH]