This Is Not Yo’ Momma’s CCP
May 28th, 2008
UC San Diego Professor and former Deputy Assistant of State responsible for China, Susan Shirk, has written an outstanding book, China: Fragile Superpower: How China’s Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise. Her book is so good and so well written that I will likely require it as book review reading next year for all students.
In her book she has an excellent chapter on how the media and internet present both challenges and opportunities for the CCP. For example, the “let’s bash Japan” issue and phenomenon in China has now become even more of a volatile issue that the CCP cannot control and manage to its benefit, in large part due to the Internet.
This NY Times article, China Leader Makes Debut in Great Wall of Facebook, made me think of her excellent book and analysis, and her chapter on the media and Internet. Although Prime Minister Wen Jiabao still lags behind people like Obama and Aaaarnold in number of fans, he is ahead of icons like Ronald Reagan and rabble-rousers such as Hugo Chavez.
One other thing about this article of note:
Once the earthquake hit, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao got his butt out to Sichuan, right away, to at least go through the public motions that showed he and the government were there and cared (too bad they were asleep on building code issues for schools before the quake, though, in particular - but that debate will occur in another place and in another time).
See also this NY Times article, Fearing Floods: China Orders Evacuations in Quake Area, re: how the Chinese government just ordered the evacuation of 150,000, that’s right 150,000 people, due to possible flooding if a natural dam were to burst. And an estimated 16 MILLION buildings were destroyed by the quake (click here). 16 friggin’ MILLION! The import here is that in China, Katrina like events and disasters are not unusual (e.g., Yangtze flooding; the snowstorm this past winter that stranded hundreds of thousands of peasants at train stations trying to get back to see their families during the Chinese New Year, etc.), and their top down government/model seems to handle these situations pretty well (see my related post on this topic, Human Rights, Part II). To move and evacuate 150,000 people in China, with it’s 1.3 billion people, tends to be ho-hum news that makes page three, not page one. And the CCP knows it has to get these situations right … if they botch too many of these post natural disaster relief situations, it knows its days in power will be numbered. Not many second or certainly third chances will be given in today’s Internet world to top down governments.
Yep, ladies and gents, this is not yo’ momma’s CCP.
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China
6 Comments Add your own
1. mike s. | May 31st, 2008 at 2:48 am
Just one comment, though this misconception is widespread…
Coming from Guangdong, about “the snowstorm this past winter that stranded hundreds of thousands of peasants at train stations.” There is a misconception about these migrant workers, perhaps because the best English word–migrant workers–calls to mind the image of peasants-turned-workers. This is in fact the majority of migrant workers, but by no means all: Given the inflexible Hukou system (which of course everyone already knows about) millions of white-collar professionals and business owners, including many city people from other provinces, are migrant workers. Even if they could get local residency, it would mean giving up residency and officially cutting connections with their hometowns, which of course most are unwilling to do.
I just found the blog and it looks really insightful. I’m going to add it to my bookmarks. Just didn’t want to let that pass.
2. Chris White | May 31st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I find it difficult to believe that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao set up that Facebook profile himself or with the help of other government officials. I wonder if he even knows anything about Facebook. The point, however, is that he has fans across the globe. It is a sign that China has become a global power. There are even groups like Premier Wen Jiabao Lights Up My Life and We Love Wen Jiabao. But below these groups are also groups such as Tibet Libre! and Facebook Stands Against the Abuse of Human Rights in China. China’s political issues and stance on human rights will become even more volatile as the country grows globally. Media and internet will also play a major role in not only exposing China to outsiders, but also its citizens. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese government handles these issues.
3. Brandi Eng-Rohrbach | June 1st, 2008 at 10:06 am
It’s definitely not your momma’s CCP. China just made free plastic bags illegal. See article. This makes them as progressive as San Francisco which is saying a lot. I have to say the rate at which China is changing is just astonishing.
4. Darold Parsons | June 1st, 2008 at 3:32 pm
The more I read about the Chinese government the more I wonder if making executive decisions and carrying them out swiftly comes at the cost of losing democracy. It seems that a democracy hinders the ability to make swift decisions. With a top down government system, the Chinese can adapt to crises without the need to pass decisions trough more people and systems. When the government reacts well, the people seem to like it more. These articles show a different way of examining the human rights issues in China. They show a government that is willing and able to support a large group of people in trouble with a very fast reaction. They are improving the lives of individuals in their country when they need it most. When compared to the crisis our government has experienced, such as in New Orleans, our nation seemed to react much slower. The new question is can we take what the Chinese are able to do and incorporate into our democracy? Is it possible for a democracy to approve action to crises quickly?
In response to the government gaining support. National pride will naturally grow with the aftermath of a crisis, much like ours did after 9/11. Think about how many people were wearing proud to be an American shirt after 9/11. Now think of how many people we see with the same shirts today- very few. In addition, as Dr. Carr mentioned, the Chinese government is much more likely to experience an extreme reaction from its people if the government were to react poorly. They have a much larger need to appease the public in these times of crises. Their form of government is under close scrutiny every day, not only from within, but from other nations as well. Will the recent events make human rights activists think again about what is going on in the Chinese government? Most likely not. People outside the nation tend to use their environment to compare. We tend to feel that a dictatorship style government is always bad. Yet we see an example now of how it can be better.
5. Glenn Hughes | June 10th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Its funny that DJ brought up the cost of quick decisions. In a lot of the reading that I have done on India, especially in the book The Elephant and the Dragon the same analogy is made. India being a large democracy was said to move slow like an Elephant, where China could react quickly with a highly centralized government.
6. Richard Ciesco | June 11th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
There are some things that different forms of government do better than others. As many of us may or may not know authoritarian forms for governments are really good at making fast decisions and changes. As seen during the earthquakes in China, the government was able to react very quickly and use its resources. It is not like a democracy when decisions on many different levels must take place and be discusses. Once a decision by a top official is made in the authoritarian form of government, no further questions are asked only action is taken. I am not saying this form of government is better than a democracy; but there are some things that they do, do better. How would have the US government’s reaction to hurricane Katrina been different if it was an authoritarian form of government? Think about it.
As far as the facebook pages go, I think this I an awesome ways for government officials to show that they are one of the people they represent. Everyone has a facebook page these days and if used correctly they enable you to keep in touch with people. This is one way for officials to do that.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed