Joseph Fewsmith

The author argues that the Chinese Communist Party is a Leninist political system, a party organization where power is distributed and withdrawn based on personal relationships between party members. There is little hope that these mechanisms of power could be institutionalized under a legal constitution or any other general principle which might give moral legitimacy to Party rule.

The topic is interesting but the book itself is quite wooden. The author discusses how power was given to Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping and what they did or tried to do with it. But the narrative unfortunately just names a very long list of politburo members and describes how their fortunes waxed and waned depending on whether or not they were in favour. Different cliques prevailed at different times and the author meticulously lists the persons who were on the winning and losing sides.

This book is therefore not a very interesting read except perhaps for readers who know Chinese politics so well that they can put a face even on second- and third-tier politburo members from the 1980s to the 2010s. For general readers the power-game narrative becomes far too repetitive to be interesting. It describes what party politics looks like to an outsider, but the real motivations behind various decisions of promotion, demotion, retirement and even prosecution cannot be explained because they have not been publicized.

The book would in my opinion have been more interesting if it had also said something about the policies which the Party implemented during these years, but that was clearly not the author's intention. He describes how power has been distributed and inherited in the Chinese Communist Party, not how it has been used.… (més)

An excellent collection of academic essays which provide a thorough introduction and grounding in some characteristics of modern China. These include, but are not limited to:

-The rebirth of traditional and 'new' religious beliefs
-The continuous process of political protest, despite harsh crackdowns
-The government's attempts maintain economic prosperity after the extremely fast and stable periods of growth over the past 30 years
-The delicate balancing act between local representation and central rule in governance

and so forth. Good collection of essays from a wide range of scholars, with good data throughout. Solid academic reading.… (més)

This book connects the Deng-era of economic reform with the political climate of China. It's a long story, and Fewsmith has done his homework. Lots of interviews.

As is the case in many autocratic Communist states, political disputes often circle around ideology and personal agreements/differences. Deng comes across as a masterful political animal here instead of an economic visionary, as presented in Vogel, et al. He chose market reform as an alternative and a legitimate opposition to the Maoist fanaticism of his political opponents, and was rewarded greatly for it.

The other thing which separates Deng from his predecessor is that he didn't utterly crush his enemies like Mao once they were beaten - he let them linger on in ceremonial posts, or let them back in a reform spot if they were useful. They were very grateful for this, considering that if it were Mao's era, they'd be set up in a 'struggle session', publicly humiliated and beaten, or worse.

Committees and research groups and reform movements were political movements as much as they were economic. One of Deng's most successful plays was finding a justification for reform using Marxism as a background. Once the reformers got results, their continued power was assured.

One wonders there are parallels between these earlier struggles and the current purges of 'old-guard Maoists' like Bo Xilai. The inner workings of The Party are fascinating and terrible to behold.… (més)