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“Stressing Out”: Cadre Calibration and Affective Proximity to the CCP in Reform-era China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2017

Andrew Mertha
Andrew Mertha*
Affiliation:
Department of government, Cornell University. Email: am847@cornell.edu.
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Abstract

Might authoritarian one-party systems experience something akin to party identification – or affective proximity to the Party – that waxes and wanes over time? Such cycles do not centre on elections but on the politics of succession, new policy initiatives and ad hoc housecleaning, and their focus would be officials within the system as opposed to the electorate outside it. I argue that a key mechanism animating such variation in party identification of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres lies within the recurring rectification efforts seeking to temper these individuals and make them more submissive to the larger political goals of the Party centre. Such priming is largely an in-house phenomenon, taking place increasingly deeper within the CCP apparatus. This process tends to involve an extensive arsenal of institutional mechanisms that constitute a particularly big stick and within which pressures to comply can be uncomfortable, even excruciating. Normative elements of these movements, such as the language and substantive written materials used during study, analysis and self-criticism are predominantly in the service of enhancing the sheer domineering quality of the Party vis-à-vis the individuals that make up its ranks. I explore this through an examination of the three stresses (san jiang) campaign of 1998–2002.

摘要

也许集权一党制体制下的党员经历一个类似于认同党 – 靠近党 - 党内消磨的逐渐转变过程, 这样的循环并非以选举为中心, 而是将重心放于政权交替? 新的政策措施的推举及党内内部清理。该等政策新举措及党内内部清理工作的重点是在体制内部官员而非体制外民众。本人的观点是中国共产党政府官员的党内认同机制的重点在于通过自我整改运动而诱导该等个人更加屈从于党中央更大的政治目标。 该种现象是一种内部现象, 并且不断深入中国共产党的各级组织。该党内认同的过程旨在利用广泛的系统化方式并与极其有效的 “大棒” 政策相结合, 该等措施对个人会造成不适甚至痛苦。 该等运动的规定动作 – 在自我学习、自我剖析、自我批评及自我整改中所使用的语言及实质性书面材料的主要目的是为了提高党及组成党内阶层的官员的绝对权威。本人通过对 1998 年至 2002 年期间开展的 “三讲” 活动的调查对此问题做出了研究。

Keywords

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)bureaucracycampaignsmovementsrectificationthought reform中国共产党官僚运动活动整风思想改造
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 229 , March 2017 , pp. 64 - 85
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Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2017 

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