Introduction
Political power can be basically described as the ability of one person to influence another to do something. Many past and present scholars have written theories describing different forms of power. Machiavelli produced political writings in the Roman republic during the 16th century. In his writings, he adopted the Weber’s definition of politics that describes struggle as being the essence of politics.
Machiavelli describes politics in his writing, The Prince, which envisions the United National State in times when there were unending struggles for power. The story elicits a social conflict and the notion of “who is fighting whom” to gain control and the ways being used to maintain the control.
According to Machiavelli, love and fear are necessary to maintain the power, with fear playing a greater role. What comes out is that an authority can remain in power when the middle class and the Citizens support and favor their ruling.
The preferences of power as expressed in Machiavelli’s theory can be witnessed in contemporary political systems. This paper is interested in identifying how Machiavelli’s theory applies to the political situation in China. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is currently facing inevitable political and economic changes.
The country is shifting from strict socialism to socialist-capitalistic market economy. The paper will specifically address the in-depth correlation of Machiavelli’s power theory with China. The analysis will include the steps that should be taken by the Chinese regime to sustain their political power.
China political situation
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ruled the country for more than six decades, a longevity that can only be compared to that of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. The CCP came to power in 1949 after defeating the forces of Chiang Kai- shek Nationalists in a civil war. The Chiang Kai-shek moved their republic of China seats to Taiwan, leaving the CCP to rule mainland of China.
The CCP later named the country as People’s Republic of China (PRC). Since then, China’s political institutions and political culture have changed significantly. The CCP’s readiness to adapt can be partly used to explain why it has maintained control on power. The various strategies employed by the CCP can be referred to Machiavelli’s political theory.
Many analysts consider the Chinese political system to be monolithic or hierarchical, even though the CCP is committed to holding onto power and does not tolerate those who question right to remain in power. Currently there are several instances where conflicts arise between institutional leaders, particularly those representing different sets of agenda.
Fierce differences are being witnessed even among the nine members of the Politburo Standing committee and the 25- member Politburo. The two represent the highest decision making organs in China.
Competition and conflicts also exist among different ministries; between ministries and provincial administrations, which are bureaucratically ranked equal; between different provinces; and between the various service units of the military. It is common when the military disagree with the foreign ministry.
On various occasions, the delegates of the National People’s Congress (Weak legislature) try to track back on the government’s decisions, the courts and the prosecutor’s office. This can be depicted as modest forms of political pluralization that are beginning to take place in China.
Moreover, there are other political actors who are increasingly influence policy debates. Such actors are now able to join forces and push for a particular cause, they include an increasingly independent media, both private and state owned corporations, official and quasi-official research institutes, officially sponsored societies and associations, universities, and grassroots and non-governmental organizations.
Historically, a political system is usually tested by the ability to manage political transitions. The CPC will hold its 18th National congress later in the year and it is expected to appoint new leadership. Xi Jinping currently holds the fifth position in the party’s official rank and is expected to assume the position of CPC’s generally secretary from Hu Jintao, who is going into retirement.
The CPC has done all it could to portray the transition as a routine practice that cannot be avoided. Historically, only two transitions were relatively incident free. The first was from Deng Xiaoping who can be identified as China’s last supreme leader, to a collective leadership led by a party general, Jiang Zemin, following Xiaoping’s death. The second peaceful transition was from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao in the year 2002.
This year’s transition particularly tricky mainly due to the challenge posed by the ousted of CPC Politburo member and Chongqing Municipality party secretary Bo Xilai.
Bo Xilai represents a potentially serious rift in the CPC’s leadership, it has raised concerns about the unity of other Poliburo leaders, and, as due to his association with senior officials in the military, raised concerns regarding the loyalty of sections of the military to CPC’s inner circle.
Analysts from within and outside China doubt whether the current Chinese political system can remain viable in the long-term, especially in regard to the perceived black box leadership politics, all powerful party, and constrained civil society and free speech rights. The outgoing premier, Wen Jiabao has expressed the need for political reforms in China, including reform in the leadership style.
He has warned that without proper political reforms, the country cannot undertake structural economic reforms. Many other analysts have raised concerns regarding China’s risk of losing the developments gained through a cultural revolution if urgent steps are not taken to resolve fundamental political issues.
Analysis of China’s political system’s consistency with Machiavelli’s theory
As described earlier, Machiavelli’s theory mainly pertains to the strategies advanced by the ruling class in their bid to create a unified state. This, according to him, is an important step in the creation of a stable republican system.
He observes that authority can remain in power as long as the middle class and other citizens provide support to their ruling. In the description of the political situation in China provided above, it is evident that the ruling party (CPC) is in tricky situation due to a looming loss of support from the middle class and other citizens.
The collective leadership that is currently practiced by the CPC was a strategic move, consistent with Machiavelli’s theory to consolidate support from majority of the Chinese people. The system was specifically designed against the excesses that might occur when power is taken by one person. It was meant to prevent a repeat of events that were witnessed during the era of PRC’s founding father Mao Zedong.
It also guards against the emergence of figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev, who was largely blamed by the Chinese for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The collective leadership has fostered the unit through consensus building. This partially explains why the party usually slowly responds to events that spill into the public domain.
For instance, in case of the disgraced former party secretary of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, the need for consensus may offer an explanation as to why, after his deputy attracted international headlines for seeking asylum at a United States diplomatic mission in February 2012, the party took six weeks to remove Bo from the office, and a further four weeks to relieve the party position he held.
The transition that will come at the end of the year will provide a real test to the willingness of the Chinese Citizens to continue offering support to the current political system. The 18th National congress of the CPC will see major replacements in the three most important bodies in the leadership of China.
The “Politburo Standing Committee, the State Council, and the central Military Commission are required to replace about three quarters of their members due to age and other factors”.
The country’s principle institutions that are directly responsible for the political affairs, economic administration, military operations and foreign policy will be largely made of new officials. In consistent with Machiavelli’s theory of power and politics they new leadership may still enjoy popular support from Chinese citizens due to its large number of newcomers.
However, in the cause of the next two years or so the watching community will pay attention to the policies of the new leaders, particularly the successors of the PRC president, Hu Jintao and the premier Wen Jiaboaю For the larger international business community, a proper assessment of the coming political changes in China is needed in the planning of future engagements with the country.
In a bid to maintain its popularity among the country’s citizens, the CPC has made some important changes regarding policy and politics in the country. The country has witnessed an improvement in the access to information.
There are various sources of information available on the internet even in regard to the military affairs. Various Chinese websites freely provide extensive information on the people’s liberation Army (PLA) activities including detailed information on the backgrounds of its officers, military strategies, development objectives and weapons.
Other mechanisms have also been advanced to suppress popular uprising against the CPC in the PRC. No legal political opposition groups exist in the country as it is principally run by the CPC. There are also political parties that are called democratic. These parties are known to take part in the People’s Political Consultative conferences. However, they are mostly known to endorse policies outlined by the CPC.
There country has witnessed to move toward liberalization by allowing Congress elections to be held in villages and towns. As described by Machiavelli’s theory, the CPC constantly enforces its rule by suppressing political dissidents while at the same time trying to reduce dissent through economic growth and allowing people to express the grievances provided they are not affiliated to any organization.
Challenges however still exist in the CPC’s endeavor to maintain an absolute control of the affairs of the country. For instance, one of the main political concerns touch upon such issues as gap between the poor and corruption within government ranks.
The extent to which the CPC enjoys support from the public is not clear due the fact that the CPC dominates all the national elections, additionally, there are no opposition parties. Candidates who run on independent tickets are too scattered and disorganized to provide any considerable challenge to the CPC.
An independent study carried out in Hong Kong, an area that enjoys higher levels freedom, revealed that current CPC leaders enjoy significant levels of support.
Conclusion and recommendations
This paper sought to identify how Machiavelli’s theory applies to the political situation in China. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is currently facing inevitable political and economic changes. The country is shifting from strict socialism to socialist-capitalistic market economy. The paper has specifically evaluated the in-depth correlation of Machiavelli’s power theory with China’s regime.
The analysis has revealed that China is at cross roads due to the major political changes that will be made later in the year. However, in consistent with Machiavelli’s theory, the ruling party (CPC) has taken necessary steps to ensure that it continues to enjoy support from Chinese Citizens.
The political future of the country is however uncertain as analysts continue to cast a pale shadow on the viability of the CPC’s political system. Thus, as much as there are no significant threats in the short term, steps should be taken to ensure that future governments continue to enjoy support from the citizens.
This may include a move towards democratization, reduction in corruption cases within government ranks and reduction of the gap between the poor and the rich.
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