Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T12:40:48.286Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Political elites in deliberative democracy: beliefs and behaviors of Chinese officials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2018

Kaiping Zhang  and
Tianguang Meng
Kaiping Zhang*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 10084
Tianguang Meng
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 10084
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: kaipingz@tsinghua.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Political leaders and elites play an enormous role in shaping a country's political development. Participatory and deliberative governance represents a major trend of political development around the world; while many studies focus on the ordinary people involved in public deliberation, little is known about the roles elites play in facilitating or impeding the progress of this deliberation. Utilizing a new survey on Chinese officials, we offer the first empirical study that reveals Chinese officials’ perceptions and practices of deliberative democracy. We find that cultural and political traditions alongside personal and social factors have deeply shaped elites’ understandings of democracy, especially the new socialist deliberative democracy. Chinese officials understand democracy largely according to the Confucian tradition of minben and the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) political heritage of mass line, both of which emphasize that officials should listen to the people and make benevolent policies for them. While many embrace the significance of deliberative institutions for improving democratic governance, others emphasize the pragmatic value of consolidating the status quo, or believe it is merely a political show. Democratic oriented officials in the Chinese sense – those who view themselves as servants of the people who should respond to their needs, value public input, are willing to converse with the people in an equal manner, and are less concerned about risks in social stability – are more likely to engage the public in daily decision-making through various channels. Our study suggests that different practices of authoritarian deliberation may lead toward distinct prospects for democracy.

Keywords

Chinadeliberative democracypolitical elitesvalues of democracy
Type
Special Section, Authoritarian Deliberation Revisited (Edited by Baogang He and Hendrik Wagenaar)
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 643 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitamurto, T (2012) Crowdsourcing for Democracy: A New Era in Policy-Making. Publications of the Committee for the Future, the Parliament of Finland. Available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2716771 (accessed 23 January 2018).Google Scholar
Bell, DA (2016) The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy. Princeton University Press. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FpL8CwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=bell+2016+political+meritocracy&ots=YOIssCvbLP&sig=feEXg6KqCXpWjHghbm71fbyAbxo (accessed 26 January 2018).Google Scholar
Besley, T, Montalvo, JG and Reynal-Querol, M (2011) Do educated leader matter?. The Economic Journal 121, 205–227. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/41237013 (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Bova, R (1991) Political dynamics of the post-communist transition: a comparative perspective. World Politics 44, 113–138. Available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/political-dynamics-of-the-post-communist-transition-a-comparative-perspective/6DFB3338294152E2A38BF162CF814E79 (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Brito, J (2008) Hack, Mash and Peer: Crowdsourcing Government Transparency. The Columbia Science and Technology Law Review 9, 119–157. Available at http://stlr.org/download/volumes/volume9/brito.pdf (accessed 21 January 2018).Google Scholar
Burton, MG and Higley, J (1987) Elite settlements. American Sociological Review 52, 295–307. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095351 (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Cabannes, Y (2004) Participatory budgeting: a significant contribution to participatory democracy. Environment and Urbanization 16, 27–46. Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/095624780401600104 (accessed 29 October 2015).Google Scholar
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (2015) Instructions on enhancing the establishment of socialist deliberative democracy. Available at http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2015-02/09/content_2816784.htm (accessed 30 August 2018).Google Scholar
Chambers, S (2003) Deliberative democratic theory. Annual Review of Political Science. Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way, P.O. Box 10139, Palo Alto, CA 94303-0139, USA, 6, 307–326. Available at http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.polisci.6.121901.085538 (accessed 18 September 2015).Google Scholar
Colgan, JD (2013) Domestic revolutionary leaders and international conflict. World Politics 65, 656–690. Available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/domestic-revolutionary-leaders-and-international-conflict/BC95B95F1785C5AE0CC27C981BA1355B (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Dahl, R (1989) Democracy and Its Critics. Yale University Press. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VGLYxulu19cC&pgis=1 (accessed 18 September 2015).Google Scholar
Dalton, RJ and Ong, N-NT (2005) Authority orientations and democratic attitudes: a test of the ‘Asian values’ hypothesis. Japanese Journal of Political Science 6, 211–231. Available at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9c75/ac3e1cf9e2165301d8f8673d6cb3968bc6a0.pdf (accessed 31 January 2018).Google Scholar
De Mesquita, BB and Smith, A (2010) Leader survival, revolutions, and the nature of government finance. American Journal of Political Science 54, 936–950. Available at http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00463.x (accessed 21 January 2018).Google Scholar
del Sol, DA (2013) The institutional, economic and social determinants of local government transparency. Journal of Economic Policy Reform 16, 90–107. Available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17487870.2012.759422 (accessed 21 January 2018).Google Scholar
Diamond, L (1999) Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sInqr5ILPE8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=diamond+1999&ots=_FbO8ec5Fn&sig=KTsoMQ7D6iXmVuv5zYOoo70m7Lc#v=onepage&q=diamond%201999&f=false (accessed Aug 30 2018).Google Scholar
Diamond, L (2008) The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies throughout the World. Macmillan. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vx3JTGSB5JcC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=larry+diamond+the+spirit+of+democracy&ots=G-fj5xnYyD&sig=su6J4pHE8_OBMlhz9K4YidowMes (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Diamond, L, Lipset, SM and Linz, J (1987) Building and sustaining democratic government in developing countries: some tentative findings. World Affairs 150, 5–19. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20672121.pdf (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Dickson, B (2005) Populist Authoritarianism: The Future of the Chinese Communist Party, in the Conference on ‘Chinese Leadership, Politics, and Policy’. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pp. 1–13. Available at http://carnegieendowment.org/files/Dickson.pdf (accessed 21 October 2016).Google Scholar
Dreher, A, Lamla, MJ, Lein, SM and Somogyi, F (2009) The impact of political leaders’ profession and education on reforms. Journal of Comparative Economics 37, 169–193. Available at www.elsevier.com/locate/jce (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Fishkin, JS (2009) When the people speak: Deliberative democracy and public consultation. Oxford University Press. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wSJeokRZUhMC&pgis=1 (accessed 18 September 2015).Google Scholar
Fishkin, JS, He, B, Luskin, RC and Siu, A (2010) Deliberative democracy in an unlikely place: deliberative polling in China. British Journal of Political Science 40, 435–448. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/40649450 (accessed 25 October 2016).Google Scholar
Fishkin, JS (2018) Democracy When the People are Thinking: Revitalizing our Politics Through Public Deliberation. Oxford University Press. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_2hiDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Democracy+When+the+People+are+Thinking:+Revitalizing+our+Politics+Through+Public+Deliberation.&ots=ZUeR05GPVF&sig=LaHilgGK4bCXYkx2YPLooPSBffw#v=onepage&q=Democracy%20When%20the%20People%20are%20Thinking%3A%20Revitalizing%20our%20Politics%20Through%20Public%20Deliberation.&f=false (accessed Aug 30 2018).Google Scholar
Fung, A and Wright, E (2003) Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. Verso. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WVhSbH4HZcoC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=deepening+democracy&ots=c8Kxg7GdP5&sig=Bh4CIoNNCEf34j4gmX-Y2pYcPok (accessed 1 December 2016).Google Scholar
Goldstene, PN (2004) Watergate: the presidential scandal that shook America. Journal of Third World Studies 21, 277–279. Available at https://sites.google.com/site/jiv091gj8freeqtpebooksdownload/mobi-free-books/WatergateThePresidentialScandalThatShookAmerica.pdf (accessed 23 January 2018).Google Scholar
Hayo, B and Neumeier, F (2014) Political leaders’ socioeconomic background and fiscal performance in Germany. European Journal of Political Economy 34, 184–205. Available at https://ac.els-cdn.com/S017626801400010X/1-s2.0-S017626801400010X-main.pdf?_tid=067af656-f97c-11e7-9c4e-00000aacb360&acdnat=1515969862_d33260cfe19f083cf47face2fd42cc47 (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
He, B (2011) Civic engagement through participatory budgeting in China: three different logics at work. Public Administration and Development 31, 122–133. Available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pad.598/full (accessed 25 October 2016).Google Scholar
He, B (2018) Deliberative citizenship and deliberative governance: a case study of one deliberative experimental in China. Citizenship Studies Routledge 22, 294–311.Google Scholar
He, B and Warren, ME (2011) Authoritarian deliberation: the deliberative turn in Chinese political development. Perspectives on Politics 9, 269–289.Google Scholar
Heper, M and Sayari, S (eds) (2002) Political Leaders and Democracy in Turkey. Lexington Books. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kh2JAZ42mOMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=political+leaders+and+democracy+in+Turkey&ots=r-ngW7BdLW&sig=_a6FzoJB5PXKNM0Pubn-4dcsALM (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Higley, J and Burton, MG (1989) The elite variable in democratic transitions and breakdowns. JSTOR 54, 17–32. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095659 (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Horowitz, MC and Stam, AC (2014) How prior military experience influences the future militarized behavior of leaders. International Organization 68, 527–559. Available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F7D22F784947808739E43ADBDF1380F7/S0020818314000046a.pdf/how_prior_military_experience_influences_the_future_militarized_behavior_of_leaders.pdf (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Huntington, SP (1991) Democracy's third wave. Journal of Democracy 2, 12–34. Available at https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.1991.0016 (accessed 19 January 2018).Google Scholar
Jing, Y (2004) Mass line and the political development in contemporary China: meaning, structure, and practice. Journal of Hunan Technological University (Social Science Edition) 7, 5–7.Google Scholar
Jones, BF and Olken, BA (2005) Do leaders matter? National leadership and growth since World War II. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 120, 835–864. Available at https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/qje/120.3.835 (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Kennedy, J and Shi, Y (2014) Rule by Virtue, the Mass Line Model, and Cadre–mass Relations, in East Asian development model: Twenty-first century perspectives, pp. 217–233.Google Scholar
Kesgin, B (2013) Leadership traits of Turkey's Islamist and secular prime ministers. Turkish Studies 14, 136–157. Available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14683849.2013.766988?needAccess=true (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
Lipman, M and McFaul, M (2001) ‘Managed democracy’ in Russia. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 6, 116–127. Available at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/108118001129172260 (accessed 23 January 2018).Google Scholar
Lu, J and Shi, T (2015) The battle of ideas and discourses before democratic transition: different democratic conceptions in authoritarian China. International Political Science Review 36, 20–41.Google Scholar
Luskin, RC, Fishkin, JS and Jowell, R (2002) Considered opinions: deliberative polling in Britain. British Journal of Political Science 32, 455–487. Available at http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0007123402000194 (accessed 18 September 2015).Google Scholar
Mao, Z (1943) On Several Issues of the Style of Leadership, in Selected works of Mao Zedong. 1991st edn. People's Publishing House, p. 899.Google Scholar
Mcdermott, R (2007) Presidential Leadership, Illness, and Decision Making. Cambridge University Press. Available at www.cambridge.org (accessed 14 January 2018).Google Scholar
McFaul, M (2002) The fourth wave of democracy and dictatorship: noncooperative transitions in the postcommunist world. World Politics 54, 212–244. Available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/the-fourth-wave-of-democracy-and-dictatorship-noncooperative-transitions-in-the-postcommunist-world/244DC5C6829DF3F0DB9437824D8212C6 (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Munck, GL, Leff, SC and Leff, CS (1997) Modes of transition and democratization: South America and Eastern Europe in comparative perspective. Comparative Politics 29, 343–362. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/422125 (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Przeworski, A (ed.) (2015) Democracy in a Russian Mirror. Cambridge University Press. Available at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=clqtCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR13&dq=przeworski+democracy+2015&ots=iug-PRKob9&sig=XTDhVOnmwo_yBaw36Py7HwNQj94 (accessed 19 January 2018).Google Scholar
Rustow, DA (1970) Transitions to democracy: toward a dynamic model. Comparative Politics 2, 337. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/421307 (accessed 20 January 2018).Google Scholar
Shi, T (2000) Cultural values and democracy in the People's Republic of China. The China Quarterly, 162, 540–559.Google Scholar
Shi, T and Lu, J (2010) The shadow of Confucianism. Journal of Democracy 21, 123–130. Available at http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/journal_of_democracy/v021/21.4.shi.html.Google Scholar
Shin, G and Moon, R (2017) South Korea after impeachment. Journal of Democracy 28, 117–131. Available at https://muse.jhu.edu/article/671995/summary (accessed 24 January 2018).Google Scholar
The Asian Barometer Survey (2016) Key Findings of the Asian Barometer Wave4 Survey. Available at http://www.asianbarometer.org/survey/key-findings.Google Scholar
The 18th Chinese Party Congress Report (2012) Available at http://cpc.people.com.cn/n/2012/1118/c64094-19612151-1.html.Google Scholar
Yu, K (2016) Democracy in China: Challenge or Opportunity. World Scientific, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Zakaria, F (1994) Culture is destiny: a conversation with Lee Kuan Yew. Foreign Affairs 73, 109–126. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/20045923 (accessed 26 January 2018).Google Scholar