Establishing the Rule of Law

Communist party-state

• guardianship– party represents the “historical best interests”

of the people– CCP’s “people’s democratic dictatorship”

allows no organized opposition to party leadership

• hierarchy of party organizations– “democratic centralism”– consultation and implementation

Communist party-state

• Organizational design of political system– borrowed from Leninist party-state of the FSU– principles of guardianship and hierarchy– Mao added the idea of the “mass line” in ’40s

• political reforms after the Maoist era– ideology became much less prominent and

coherent– no fundamental systematic change

V illa ge

T o w n sh ip

C o u n ty/D is trict

C it y

P ro v in ce

C e n ter

Party Structure

T o w n sh ip

C o u n ty/D is trict

C it y

P ro v in ce

C e n ter

Governm ent Structure

Village

CCP General Secretary

• Jiang Zemin (1989 - 2002)

• Hu Jintao (2002 - )

Politburo Standing Committee

• Each heads party work in one area– organization and personnel– propaganda and education– finance and economy– political and legal affairs– foreign affairs– etc.

PRC Head of State

• President

• Jiang Zemin (1993-2003)– also then CCP General Secretary

• Hu Jintao (2003-2008)– also current CCP General Secretary

Central Government

• Premier: Wen Jiabao (2003-2008)

• State Council

• 29 Ministries and Commissions– Ministry of Foreign Affairs– Ministry of National Defense– State Development & Reform Commission– People’s Bank of China– etc.

National People’s Congress

• According to the constitution, the highest organization of state authority

• NPC Standing Committee– the permanent body of NPC exercises all but

the most formal powers of the NPC

• 8 Special Committees– legislative affairs, nationalities, agriculture &

rural, foreign affairs, etc.

National People’s Congress

• NPC plenary sessions– meet annually in Beijing– for about 2 weeks

• the nearly 3,000 deputies are elected– for 5-year terms– by provincial-level people’s congresses

Constitutional Amendments

• 1999– “rule of law”

• 2004:– private property right– human rights

China’s Judicial System

Instrumentalism

• Mao Zedong era (1949 – 1976)– law as a “tool of the proletariat dictatorship”

• Reform era (1979 - present)– economic development and Party legitimacy– social order and stability– rule by law– political-legal system of the Party– the principle of “flexibility”

Democracy Movements

• 1978 – 1979– “Democracy Wall” movement

• 1988 – 1989– Tian’anmen

• 1998 – 1999– “China Democracy Party”

FaLun

Gong

Falun Dafa

• Falun– “high-power material that turns 24 hours a

day”

• “Truthfulness”

• “Benevolence”

• “Forbearance”– “use all kinds of means to eradicate evil”

• organization