China: Institutions of Government

2004-03-14

• The 10th National People’s Congress

• Constitutional amendment– “3 represents” theory– private property right– human rights

Outline

• Center of party-state– Party structure at the center– Government structure at the center– National People’s Congress

• Local structure of party-state– Local people’s congresses– Local government– Local party organizations

Ruling Party: CCP

• Chinese Communist Party– founded in Shanghai in 1921

CCP’s Birthplace Today

Communist party-state• Organizational design of political system

– borrowed from Leninist party-state of the FSU– principles of guardianship and hierarchy– Mao added the idea of the “mass line” in ’40s

• Political reforms after the Maoist era– ideology became much less prominent and

coherent– do not add up to fundamental systematic change– 1982: Article 2 of Constitution dropped (party

monopoly)

V illa ge

T o w n sh ip

C o u n ty/D is trict

C it y

P ro v in ce

C e n ter

Party Structure

T o w n sh ip

C o u n ty/D is trict

C it y

P ro v in ce

C e n ter

Governm ent Structure

Village

CCP General Secretary

• Jiang Zemin (1989 - 2002)

• Hu Jintao (2002 - )

Politburo Standing Committee

• Each heads party work in one area– organization and personnel– propaganda and education– finance and economy– political and legal affairs– foreign affairs– etc.

• Kou: policy gateways

CCP Central Committee

• About 200 members (and 150 alternate)

• Membership in CC reflects political power

• Central Committee departments:– Department of Organization– Department of Propaganda– Department of United Front– Department of International Liaison

• Central Committee elects Politburo

CCP National Congress

• Meets every 5 years since 1970s– 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002– 16th National Party Congress– November 2002– 2154 delegates

• Elects– Central Committee

PRC Head of State

• President

• Jiang Zemin (1993-2003)– also then CCP General Secretary

• Hu Jintao (2003-2010)– also current CCP General Secretary

Central Government• Powerful not because of titles but because of

high posts in CCP

• Premier: Wen Jiabao (2003-2008)

• State Council

• 29 Ministries and Commissions– Ministry of Foreign Affairs– Ministry of National Defense– State Development & Reform Commission– People’s Bank of China– etc.

Central Military Commission• Commanders-in-chief of the People’s Liberation

Army– 1989: Military sided with hardliners

• Same composition in both the central party and government structures

• Chair: Jiang Zemin

resigned 2005

(replaced by Hu)

• 11 members

National People’s Congress

• According to the constitution, the highest organization of state authority

• NPC Standing Committee– the permanent body of NPC exercises all but the

most formal powers of the NPC

• 8 Special Committees– legislative affairs, nationalities, agriculture & rural,

foreign affairs, etc.

National People’s Congress

• NPC plenary sessions– meet annually in Beijing– for about 2 weeks

• The nearly 3,000 deputies are elected– for 5-year terms– by provincial-level people’s congresses

Power Relationship

CCP Politburo

National PC State Council

Local People’s Congresses

Eligible votersTownship

Eligible votersCounty

County or district PC’sCity

City PC’sProvince

Provincial PC’sNational

Elected byPeople’s Congresses

Provincial level governments

• 22 Provinces

• 5 Autonomous

Regions

• 4 Municipalities

• 2 Special

Administrative

Regions

Local governments of the P.R.C.

• Cities– 4 cities at the rank of provinces

• Beijing, Shanghai, ...

– 15 cities at the rank of “semi-provinces”– 265 cities at the rank of prefectures– 393 cities at the rank of counties

• 2,053 counties and 808 city districts

• Townships and (villages)

Local Party Structure

• 3.5 million party committees, party general branches, and party branches

• Provinces, cities, counties, townships, and villages

• Enterprises– state-owned enterprises– less than 1% of private enterprises have party

organizations

Replicated at lower levels

Local party committee

local people’s congress local government