Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Bruce J. Dickson
Source: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Winter, 2006/2007), pp. 672-673
Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40023786 .
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THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY IN REFORM. Edited by KjeldErik
Brodsgaard and Zheng Yongnian. New York: Routledge, 2006. ix, 268 pp. (Tables,
figures.) US$120, cloth. ISBN 0-415-37477-4.
Pacific Affairs: Volume 79, No. 4 - Winter 2006-2007
Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been a ruling party for
almost 60 years, few recent books focus directly on the party or the challenges
it faces. This book is one of the few and follows a similar volume by the co-
editors (Bringing the Party Back In: How China is Governed, Singapore: Eastern
Universities Press, 2004). The book covers a variety of topics: party
organization and personnel policy (Andrew Walder, John Burns, Kjeld-Erik
Brodsgaard, and Maria Heimer) ; its relations with other key institutions (You
Ji, Zou Keyuan, Ignatius Wibowo and Lye Liang Fook); its relations with
society (Akio Takahara and Robert Benewick, and Cai Yongshun); and
prospects for democratization (He Baogang, Chien-min Chao and Yeau-tarn
Lee, and Zheng Yongnian) . With the exception of Walder, none of the authors
is based in North America. One of the strengths of the book is that it offers
fresh perspectives by scholars in East Asia and Western Europe.
Many of the findings in this book will provide grounds for extended
debate and inquiry. Walder argues that China's trajectory of change makes
comparisons with the former communist countries in Eastern Europe and
the Soviet Union increasingly irrelevant, and that the CCP and its cadres are
changing in ways that make "creative solutions to political governance
problems" (p. 28) more likely than a repeated violent reaction to social
change, as in 1989. Burns claims that the nomenklatura system, despite being
a hallmark of CCP rule, "has been an unreliable leadership selection
instrument, serving neither the party as a collective entity nor the nation
very well" (p. 41 ) , mostly because it has not been able to prevent corruption.
Heimer challenges this assertion, arguing that preventing corruption was
not the purpose of the nomenklatura. She finds that the cadre responsibility
system, when evaluated in light of the CCP's own criteria, has been and
remains a useful analytical tool for determining the centre's goals and
evaluating the success of policy implementation. Akio Takahara and Robert
Benewick look at party-building efforts in the newly created urban
communities (shequ) but find that even party members who live there are
not interested in them. He Baogang is optimistic that local experiments in
limited political reform are creating a mixed regime based on one-party
rule, Mandarin traditions, and intra-party elections, which will be democratic
in its own terms even if not by Western standards. Zheng Yongnian concludes
that "Chinese business classes are likely to play a role that their European
counterparts did in the past" (p. 256) by eventually promoting
democratization, even though most other empirical studies have found the
opposite.
The book has several shortcomings. First, there is no underlying theme
that ties the chapters together, and the chapters do not interact with each
672
Book Reviews
other even when they present diametrically opposed viewpoints (with the
exception of Heimer's rebuttal of Burns) . For example, He Baogang chides
foreign observers who apply theories of civil society and democratization to
China because theories derived from the Western experience may not be
appropriate to China's past, present, and future, but then Zheng Yongnian
does exactly that. There is an implicit debate here, but it would be even
more useful if it were explicit. Second, most of the chapters are good at
describing the intentions of party policies but do not present much direct
evidence on whether those expectations were met in practice. Most
importantly, most of the chapters have data only through the late 1990s and
none of the authors addresses the impact of the Hu Jintao era for their
topic. The chapters do not seem to have been updated after the 2003
conference where they were first presented. Finally, at $120 per copy, it is
ridiculously overpriced , thus limiting its exposure which is truly unfortunate.
Despite these missed opportunities, the book is full of useful insights
and careful analysis. It should be read by all students on Chinese politics,
especially those interested in the adaptability of the CCP.
George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA Bruce J. Dickson
LA CHINE AU CARREFOUR DES TRADITIONS JURIDIQUES. By
Helene Piquet. Bruxelles (Belgium): Bruylant, 2005. 332 pp. Euro 50. 00, paper.
ISBN 2-8027-2095-3.
After decades of Mao Zedong's "no law, no heaven" lawless tyranny, Deng
Xiaoping assumed paramount power in 1978 and launched his "Four
Modernizations" of China. Although he rejected the Democracy Movement's
demand for a "Fifth," i.e., political modernization, he nevertheless responded
to Chinese people's yearning for a "rule of law" to replace the "rule of men"
by calling for the creation of a modern judicial system. Almost thirty years
later it can be said that progress in this regard has been impressive. Since
1978 more than 300 laws and 6000 rules and regulations have been enacted,
including a complete system of contract law in 1999 and a draft civil code in
2002; law schools have multiplied; jurists and students have been sent abroad;
a rich legal literature has appeared. Yet, notwithstanding such undeniable
achievements, can it be said that China has become a Rechtstaat, a state
governed by the rule of law? Secret trials of dissidents, including civil rights
lawyers (such as Gao Zhisheng) ; cruel religious persecution of followers of
Falun Gong and house churches; extra-judicial executions; widespread use
of torture, expropriations without compensation and other violations of
fundamental human rights, warrant a negative answer to that question. The
author of this work, remarkable for its scholarship, backed by an immense
bibliography, refrains, however, from formulating a categorical judgment.
673
Article Contents
p. 672
p. 673
Issue Table of Contents
Pacific Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Winter, 2006/2007), pp. 578-736
Volume Information [pp. -]
Front Matter [pp. -]
Perspectives
Perspectives [pp. 585-585]
Australia, America and Asia [pp. 587-595]
Australia, the US and East Asia: Are Close Ties with the Bush Administration Beneficial? [pp. 597-604]
"In Medias Res": The Development of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization as a Security Community [pp. 605-622]
Dilemmas Confronting Social Entrepreneurs: Care Homes for Elderly People in Chinese Cities [pp. 623-640]
Minorities and Protest in Japan: The Politics of the Fingerprinting Refusal Movement [pp. 641-656]
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Back Matter [pp. -]