Political joke of the day

1. Political joke of the day • “这场斗争其实和中国人没关系， 这场斗争是有个蒙古人向美国人举报新加坡人杀了英国人” • This political struggle has nothing to do with Chinese people: it’s a Mongolian reporting to Americans that a Singaporean killed a Brit.

2. Roadmap: Upcoming Topics • 1: Institutions of the Party-State • Can the state control its own agents? • 2: Civil Society and Village Governance • Can the state control society? • Can society influence the state? • 3: Media/Internet Politics • How effective is state control over the media? • Conversely, how effective is the media as a government watchdog? • Is the internet a virtual civil society?

3. Institutions of the Party-State: Reading questions What are the major types of authoritarian regimes? Which type has the longest regime survival, on average? Why?

4. Institutions of the Party-State • Major debate about the capacity of the Chinese state • Defining terms • State capacity +

5. Institutions of the Party-State • Major debate about the capacity of the Chinese state • Defining terms • State capacity* • Ability of state to • penetrate society • regulate social relationships • extract resources • use them in intended ways *Joel Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States • Pei’s terms: mobilizing political support, providing public goods, and managing internal tensions

6. Institutions of the Party-State: Reading questions • Major debate about the capacity of the Chinese state • Where does Pei Minxin stand? • Alternative argument: Yang Dali +

7. Institutions of the party-state 1) How is the party-state structured? 2) What are the mechanisms of party control?

8. Review: Chinese Communist Party parallels and dominates all other state institutions (Stay tuned for more on interest representation by NPC and Local Peoples’ Congresses)

9. Institutions of the party-state • CCP central hierarchy • General Secretary • Politburo Standing Committee (9) • Politburo (25) • Central Committee • National Party Congress (18th Autumn 2012) • Personnel • Symbolic transfer of leadership • “Ideology” • Public articulation of “party line”

10. Institutions of the party-state • CCP major commissions • Military Affairs (MAC) • Discipline Inspection • Central Advisory • 1982-1992 only

11. Institutions of the party-state • How institutionalized is authority? • Deng Xiaoping • Position as of 1985? (“Man of the Year”) • Position as of 1992? (“southern tour”) • Hu Jintao

12. Institutions of the party-state • CCP central hierarchy • Political-Legal Committee---law, security, police • Zhou Yongkang周永康 • Supreme People’s Court • Wang Shengjun王胜俊 (no legal training)

13. Institutions of the party-state • CCP major departments • Secretariat • Organization Dept • Personnel • Propaganda • Media, education

14. 5 Levels of Government; 6 Levels of Party • Central • Provincial • Municipal /prefectural • County • Township (lacks full complement of government offices) • Village (party only) (more on village elections on Wednesday)

15. Institutions of the party-state • What are the mechanisms of Leninist party control? • Democratic centralism • Party discipline • Applies to 80 million party members (~5% of population) • Central Commission for Discipline Inspection • Monitors corruption within party(Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai) • Harvard’s Samuel Huntington (Dali Yang, p. 49) • “Organization is the road to political power, but it is also the foundation of political stability and thus the precondition of political liberty.” • Love to hate?

16. Institutions of the party-state 16 • What are the mechanisms of Leninist party control within and beyond the CCP? • Nomenklatura • List of positions for which party vets candidates • Examples beyond the party itself +

17. Institutions of the party-state • What are the mechanisms of Leninist party control within and beyond the CCP? • Nomenklatura • List of positions for which party vets candidates • Examples beyond the party itself • Government executives • Standing Committees of People’s Congresses • Editors of major newspapers • University leadership • Trade Union leadership • Buddhist Association, Chinese Catholic Church leadership • Lawyer’s Association leadership • State-owned corporation leadership

18. Institutions of the party-state • What are the mechanisms of Leninist party control within and beyond the CCP? • “Double-hatting” • Concurrent party and other positions • Village head and village party secretary concurrently • “Interlocking directorates” • Example: Ma Wen • Minister, Ministry of Supervision (government) • Deputy Secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCP) • Party core groups and party committees • Example: • Party group (党组) in leadership of local People’s Congress • Must follow party line

19. Institutions of the party-state 19 • What are the mechanisms of Leninist party control within and beyond the CCP? • “Double-hatting” • Concurrent party and other positions • Village head and village party secretary concurrently • “Interlocking directorates” • Example: Ma Wen • Minister, Ministry of Supervision (government) • Deputy Secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCP) • Party core groups and party committees • Example: • Party group (党组) in leadership of local People’s Congress • Must follow party line

20. Institutions of the party-state • Problems with Leninist party leadership: competing sources of authority • Vertical-horizontal relations (tiao-kuai guanxi 条块关系） • Examples: • Horizontal: territorial governments like a county • County party secretary is ultimate local authority (一把手) • Vertical: substantive agencies • National tax office (国税局)at county level • Environmental protection agency at county level • People’s Bank county-level branch • Local Communist Party secretaries often hold sway over bureaucrats in the local offices of central agencies • Ex: local environmental protection bureau • Less likely to implement the policies of the State Environmental Protection Agency if the local CCP party secretary cares more about industrial output and jobs then clear air or water

21. Institutions of the party-state • Premise: What do local leaders (cadres) care about? • Political careers (Barbara Geddes, Politician’s Dilemma) • Leading cadre evaluation system • Specific, measurable, quantifiable criteria • Linked to “high-powered” incentives • Bonuses (often as much as the base salary itself) • Promotion prospects • Determined by performance on key targets • Important for signaling the priorities of higher levels • Shifting emphasis—demonstrates political learning • Economic: output  sales  profits • Economic  political • With privatization, cadres directly manage fewer enterprises • With “losers” emerging during the later reform process, more protests, seen as threats to CCP control

22. Institutions of the party-state • How to conceptualize cadre management? • Principal-agent problem • Who are the principals? • Who are the agents? • What are the defining characteristics of the principal-agent problem?

23. Institutions of the party-state • Principal-agent problem • Defining characteristics • Interest conflict • Information asymmetry

24. Institutions of the party-state • Principal-agent problem • Analytical insights • “Moral hazard” • Performing only to measured criteria

25. Institutions of the party-state • Leading cadre evaluation system as a principal-agent problem: gaming the system • Early example (GVIO 工业总产值) • Politically motivated bank loans to local enterprises • Subsequent adaptations • Current example (Investment 招商引资) • Manipulate requisitions of rural land for development • Contrast Dali Yang p. 48 (auctions) • QUESTION: Dali Yang: “rent seeking”

26. Institutions of the party-state • Principal-agent problem • Analytical insights • Multitask problem • Difficult to promote multiple targets simultaneously • Example: environmental protection targets vs. growth/investment

27. Institutions of the party-state 27 • Premise: What do local leaders (cadres) care about? • Political careers (Barbara Geddes, Politician’s Dilemma) • How much does money/corruption undermine this analytical framework?