The Chinese Communist Party

Abstract

While the CCP has resisted all attempts to challenge its political power, the reforms have led intentionally and unintentionally to significant changes in its role in the political system, its relationship to state and society, its capacity to command obedience, and its membership. It is clear that the CCP today, while still committed to a Leninist model of political control, is far from the party that set the reforms in motion in the late 1970s. Policy within the party and its relationship with other institutions is more contested than in the past. With 63 million members it is an extremely diverse organization with a wide range of political beliefs represented. This chapter first reviews the party’s organizational structure and membership and then looks at the changing role of the party in the political system.