China''s Party Congress - Power, Legitimacy, and Institutional Manipulation

The first scholarly analysis of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, more commonly known as the Party Congress.

List of contents

1. Introduction: China's Party Congress as the theatre of power; 2. Institutions manipulated, legitimacy ritualized: a theory of authoritarian legitimization; 3. 'Meeting for unity and victory': the political art of running the Party Congress; 4. Between political principle and the practice of power: the making and remaking of the Party platform; 5. Norms versus operations: Party constitution in political configuration; 6. Elections as instruments of autocracy: the essence and nuisance of formalistic voting; 7. Conclusion.

About the author

Guoguang Wu is Professor of Political Science, Professor of History, and Chair in China and Asia-Pacific Relations at the University of Victoria, Canada. He was involved in China's Party Congress as a policy advisor to then Party Chief Zhao Ziyang and a member of the draft group of the Central Committee's report to the Congress. The author, co-author and editor of twenty-two books in both English and Chinese, he is also a contributor to journals including Asian Survey, China Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Contemporary China, the Pacific Review, Social Research, and Third World Quarterly.

Summary

The first analysis of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, more commonly known as the Party Congress. Drawing from new documentary evidence, Guoguang Wu examines the operation of the highest decision-making body in China's single ruling party, developing a theory of authoritarian legitimization that integrates informal politics with institutions.

Product details

• Authors: Guoguang Wu, Guoguang (University of Victoria Wu, Wu Guoguang
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 18.09.2015
• EAN: 9781107082021
• ISBN: 978-1-107-08202-1
• No. of pages: 382
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; China, Political Parties, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Parties, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, Political leaders & leadership, Far-left political ideologies and movements, Political leaders and leadership, Marxism & Communism, Political parties and party platforms