Teaching Comparative

The Chinese state, government, and political culture

Here's a beginning project for students: In terms of the basic concepts of comparative politics, what is Catherine Sampson talking about in this op-ed piece?

Which China?

"'What is not clear,' Simon Jenkins wrote... of the Beijing Olympics, 'is who will win, China or its critics'.

"We all know what Simon Jenkins means: that China's Communist party leadership is winning the short-term race to host the Olympics on its own terms, but it may face trouble running the marathon – the longer-term struggle. I broadly agree with this analysis.

"But when we use the word 'China' to refer to the small group of party leaders who wield power, then we play the Communist party's game.

"Saying 'China' when what we mean is actually the tiny group of men who run the country is a shorthand that we've all used, myself included. Before you roll your eyes and accuse me of being picky, I would argue that it is extremely important now, in 2008, to make this distinction...

"[T]his use of an all-inclusive 'China' is the most potent method of control that the leadership has over its own people. To raise questions about one-party rule – indeed to raise questions about pretty much anything – is to be 'anti-China', a dissident...

"I have lived in China for about 15 years... My sense, as I spoke to people about the things that were happening, was that there were far greater differences of opinion than at any time since the demonstrations and massacre of 1989.

"I encountered angry anti-western sentiment... I also encountered ordinary people – not people who would describe themselves as dissidents – who were furious with their leadership... I have heard people rail against propaganda. I have met taxi drivers who get their news from the internet and who can discuss intelligently the differences between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown...

"We must distinguish China the nation from the Communist party leadership which dictates policy. We must remember at all times that the Communist party is rarely united and that stability is often an illusion. And most of all we should remember that the vast variation in opinion among the ordinary people who make up China does not make up a monolithic will. The struggle, as it emerges, will not be between "China" and "its critics" – it will be the debate inside China itself."

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Labels: China, concepts, political culture

posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:52 AM