July 6, 2007
WE'RE THIS CLOSE...:
Let a thousand democracies bloom (David Shambaugh, July 6, 2007, International Herald Tribune)
As the 17th Congress of China's Communist Party approaches this autumn, party organizations in Beijing are abuzz with talk of democracy. Expect lots of "democracy" initiatives at the Congress. Some of these were signaled in an important speech by the party general secretary, Hu Jintao, to Politburo members and others at the Central Party School on June 25th.While these initiatives do not constitute democratic institutions and procedures as recognized in real democracies, they nonetheless represent serious efforts to broaden what the Chinese describe as "inner-party democracy," "electoral democracy," and extra-party "consultative democracy." All of these forms go under the broad rubric of "socialist democracy" or "democracy with Chinese characteristics," as described in Hu's speech.
What do these terms mean in the Chinese political context? Recent discussions with high-level party organizations in Beijing offer some clues.
For the last several years, Hu Jintao has promoted "inner-party democracy" as a key to avoiding a similar sclerosis that beset the former Soviet Communist Party, the CPSU. The Chinese analysis of the Soviet Union's collapse pointed to many causes, but a central one was the top-down, inflexible nature of the CPSU.
The notion that a bit of tinkering around the edges will allow Maoism to succeed just puts them deeper in the hole.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 6, 2007 10:31 PM
Rodger. That how the FORMER SOVIET UNION was buried.
Posted by: Lou Gots at July 7, 2007 4:50 AMSinologists and China's party hacks would do well to remember this: In the politics of governments burdened with a totalitarian heritage, there is really nothing new under the sun.
Has everyone already forgotten about how the giddy Soviets back then were comparing a young and vigorous Mikhail Gorbachev with a supposedly old and decrepit Ronald Reagan? Has everyone already forgotten about how many enthusiastic Westerners back then were celebrating and praising glasnost? Has everyone already forgotten about all those learned Western Sovietologists back then who were absolutely convinced the Soviet Union was a permanent fact of life and was demonstrating it was capable of carrying out successful political reform?
I guess so.
Posted by: X at July 7, 2007 7:46 AMHow can they forget what they never knew. I still chuckle when I think about the learned Professor Stephen Cohen lately of New York University who had mastered the academic stutter perfectly while bloviating on the Soviet Union on one television panel after the other.
He found out it ceased to exist in the morning paper. What a bunch on maroons.