China’s has a huge population, vast geographical span, and social multiplicity. As a result, China has a unique political system. The economic reforms China put in place in the 1980s entailed the decentralization of major central government functions to local governments. As a result the central government found it continuously intricate to assert its authority.
To implement new polices, the leaders in the central government found it necessary to build consensus among party members, local communities, plus influential non-party members. In the past, the communist party exercised its control over the society but now the increasing freedom to make choices about education and employment weakened the work unit system that was once the basic cell of the communist party control over society.
China is the world’s second largest economy and is ruled by the Chinese communist party, which has been in power for more that six decades. In spite of this fact, China’s political institutions and political culture have evolved significantly over those years. China’s power structure has been a monopoly but many analysts both in China and abroad have queried the long-term feasibility of it, which the party remains above the law and civil society and the freedom of speech and alliance are strictly guarded.
Thankfully, China’s retiring Premier Wen Jiabao called for political transformation and the reorganization of the leadership system of the party and the state. He noted that without the success of political reform, it is impossible to institute economic structural changes.
The Chinese Communist Party controls the state and the society in China. It has power over the armed forces, and is in charge of employing people in all political, state-owned, and public institutions. The media, judiciary and the internal security apparatus is also under the control of the Chinese communist.
China’s governing party enjoys maximum party control, by ensuring that the highest ranking state officials at every level of government simultaneously hold senior party positions,. The country was able to shield its industries from competition by implementing unfair economic policies, such as rules stating that Chinese should own a 51 percent stake in a foreign joint undertaking.
Since its entry into the World Trade Organization, the China’s economy became market oriented and the country has become the major manufacture of most of the world’s products. China has one of the highest foreign direct investment rates in the world (Morrison 7). This has enabled the country to produce low cost items in large scale.
The ability of Chinese government to control the economic environment has attracted many investments (Thomas 28). The high economic growth has given the country the wealth it requires to develop its infrastructure, which is essential for development.
The Chinese Communist Party realized that it had to adapt to the fast changing society.Therefore, it developed mechanisms of modifying its governing ideology to facilitate the necessary transformations for the sake of its continued existence. Yet it was careful in its approach and avoided challenging its ideology to an extent, which would further compromise its already questionable justifications for maintaining an everlasting cartel on power.
In its quest to get into power, the People’s Republic of China the Party assured the citizenry that it would help peasant farmers and workers improve their working conditions and livehoods. It also guaranteed that socialistic ideologies would be entrenched, and all property would be publicly owned. In its constitution, the party still authoritatively decrees the recognition of communism to be its supreme ideal and ultimate goal.
As a ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party now defines itself as representing the basic aspirations of the vast majority of the Chinese people including capitalists. In 2007, China at last passed a law protecting private property rights. This was after realizing that privately owned enterprises had started achieving double-digit economic growth rates in its coastal provinces and that the real estate segments were booming.
Works Cited
Morrison, Wayne. China’s Economic Conditions. Congressional Research Service. 2012. Web.
Thomas, Stephen. China’s Economic Development from 1860 to the Present: The Roles of Sovereignty and the Global Economy. Forum on Public Policy. 2012. Web.