China's Political Development: Chinese and American Perspectives

12. Building a Modern National Integrity System: Anticorruption and Checks and Balance of Power in China

11 340 Contemporary China’s Decisionmaking System zhou฀guanghui Although the reform and opening up has brought extensive and profound changes to Chinese society, the basic pattern of state-led social development has not changed. The state’s leadership is basically realized through public policy formulation and implementation. To better understand China’s development , therefore, we must look at the decisionmaking system that determines and influences contemporary Chinese policy. As noted by Carol Lee Hamrin, “Reform of the Chinese system in the 1980s proceeded in cycles or waves, rather than a straight linear fashion.”1 Each cycle began with a new policy initiated by reform leaders. The main purpose of this chapter is not to explore how China’s decisionmaking system has influenced the country’s development but rather to discuss the formation of this decisionmaking system and its basic characteristics, rationality, problems and crises, and changes and trends. The analysis of these variables draws on the historical institutional analytical method as well as political development theory. The Formation of China’s Decisionmaking System Political decisions have a strong bearing on the direction of national and social development, the authoritative allocation of social resources, and the expression of volition and the balance of interests for different political participants and interest groups that seek to influence the decisionmaking process. In this sense, the political decisionmaking process is essentially a course of interest 11-2535-0 chap11.indd 340 3/28/14 10:14 AM China’s Decisionmaking System 341 compromise, game playing, and balance of interests. Modern political theories take evaluation of the actual decisionmaking process as an important method of political analysis. A historical institutional analysis analyzes the political process from the perspective of the institutional system. The institutional system is a set of rules or norms that governs interpersonal interaction and cooperation. Owing to constant changes in the preferences of decisionmakers, subjectivity of motivations, the information available, and the situations faced, it is often difficult to understand the specific process of and the real motives behind major decisions. However, the actual context of policy formation can be explored by analyzing the causal relationships among the major variables of the decisionmaking system. It is in this sense that Douglass North has noted that “the past can be understood only as a process of institutional evolution.”2 According to Sven Steinmo, “Institutions structure politics because they: 1) define who is able to participate in the particular political arena, (2) shape the various actors’ political strategies, and (3) influence what these actors believe to be both possible and desirable (i.e., their preferences).”3 National policies are the core content of political decisionmaking, which is a process whereby individuals, political organizations (parties), or governments formulate and choose action plans concerning the direction, goals, principles, methods, and procedures of national and social development; the important issues in social and public life; and the adjustment of important interest relations. Practically speaking, the leadership of a ruling party is conceived by making and implementing political decisions. Generally, decisionmaking refers to “the process by which a solution is chosen to be implemented. The formation of a decision usually requires a decisionmaker (the person who makes the final choice) and a decisionmaking body (a group, organization, or government composed of all persons participating in the decisionmaking process), who analyze information, establish goals, put forward and assess various solutions, and arrive at a conclusion for responding to a problem or a series of problems.”4 The decisionmaking structure, mode, and mechanisms are three major interrelated parts of the decisionmaking system. These elements have changed considerably with the reform and opening up, though the Chinese Communist Party’s leading role in the decisionmaking system has remained unchanged. This paradox has resulted in controversies over the course of China’s political reforms. Formation of China’s Decisionmaking System Elements of China’s present decisionmaking system were in place before 1949 but took formal shape in the early years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). At the top level, it consists of five constituent parts: the party, government, army, 11-2535-0 chap11.indd 341 3/28/14 10:14 AM 342 Zhou Guanghui law, and people. Party refers to the ruling party and other parties participating in the management of state affairs. Government encompasses the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its standing committee and the State Council. Army refers to the Central Military Commission. Law...