Abstract
The Fourth Plenum of the Communist Party of China held in September 2004 outlined a course of reform aimed at establishing the Party as a permanent governing party (zhizheng dang 执政党). This aim shares some of the values and procedures of legislative democracy, but is fundamentally different in structure. There are no existing cases of party-state democracy as envisioned in the governing party idea, so the theoretical question is asked, is party-state democracy possible? The paper considers the course of development and the limitations of the theory of legislative democracy and contrasts it to the course of Chinese political development. It then presents the essential elements of a democratic system, concluding with a discussion of the feasibility of party-state democracy.
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He has published extensively on China and East and Southeast Asia. He is author and co-author of numerous books, such asFoundations of Mao Zedong’s Political Thought and Politics in China, Politics in China, andContemporary Chinese Politics in Historical Perspective. His most recent book,China and Vietnam: the Politics of Asymmetry, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. His current research interests include asymmetry in international relations and political reform in China. An earlier version of this paper was presented at 政治文明与中国政治现代化 [Political Civilization and Modernization in China], 中国人民大学 [Renmin University of China], Beijing, June 2004. My thanks to Lowell Dittmer, Zhang Wenxian, Xiao Yanzhong and other participants for their comments.
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Womack, B. Democracy and the governing party (执政党): A theoretical perspective. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 10, 23–42 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02877006
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02877006