A Chinese Way of Democratisation?(Comments AND Notes) (Report‪)‬

Democracy is regarded as a worthy value by most Chinese people including the top leadership, yet in the last two decades, it seems that no progress has been made towards a democratic China. (1) The majority of Chinese people seem content with the current regime. Defying the predictions of social and political theorists, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has not withered away, but instead has become more sophisticated in its management of the country. (2) Indeed, there is a trend both within and outside China that attributes China's phenomenal economic growth to the authoritarian nature of its government. (3) Compared with a democratic government, it is believed that an authoritarian government is able to mobilise large amounts of resources to tackle the most urgent bottlenecks of growth. Why has open demand for democratisation not accompanied economic development in China? Is China indeed creating an enduring form of authoritarianism that beats the conventional logic of political transformation? This article will attempt to provide answers to both questions.