7 - Rethinking the Domestic Politics of Reform as SOE Leadership Goes Global

Summary

Chapter 7 concludes by summarizing what a leadership approach contributes to the analysis of China’s politics and economy. It introduces the concept of the “intra-organizational politics of reform”: the daily dynamics of cooperation and conflict between leaders and their subordinates inside public-sector organizations. While elite politics and bargaining among different parts and levels of the Chinese bureaucracy have received much attention, the internal world of public-sector organizations is also a crucial arena for reform politics. Such intra-organizational politics both constitute the everyday substance of reform and shape its ultimate course. Next, the chapter discusses the increasingly global context and effects of leadership in Chinese SOEs. It explains why leadership continues to matter despite the ongoing centralization of political authority under Xi Jinping. Finally, it outlines several directions for future research on leadership in China’s public sector during the Xi era.