Abstract
I have explained elsewhere through what intellectual journey I have come to avoid an ethnocentric perspective for approaching China (Urio 2010b, 2012, pp. 13–25). In this chapter I will first rely upon the commonalities existing between some well-known Chinese and Western scholars for building a set of theoretical and empirical tools in order to understand China’s public management.
This chapter is based upon Urio (2010a, Chap. 1, in this chapter and Sect. 1.4 of Chap. 4), Urio (2012, Chap. 1), and Urio (2018, Chap. 1), with many updates and new comments.
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Notes
- 1.
This is the official title of Xi Jinping speech at the 2017 Party congress (Xi 2017).
- 2.
To my knowledge, Braudel is the only historian of the economy quoted by Jullien.
- 3.
See the anecdote I report in Urio (2012), pp. 20–21.
- 4.
For a critique of Jullien see Billeter (2006).
- 5.
Let us note that for Braudel ‘material life’ is sometimes defined as a ‘no economy’, sometimes as a ‘very elementary economy’, for example in the introductory remarks to the second volume of Civilisation matérielle, économie et Capitalisme (1979a, vol. 2, p. 7). For me what is important is that Braudel shows that, since the twelfth century, markets have emerged out of the “material life” well before capitalism (p. 15). Moreover, Braudel’s shows that markets were already present in Africa, India, China, and in Islamic countries. For the emergence of market in China see especially pages 116, 120–125, 139–140, 146, and 255–256; on the emergence of capitalism pp. 268–287 for the use of ‘capital, capitalist, and capitalism’; and for the emergence of capitalism in China more especially pages 354–356, 708–723.
- 6.
The exact sentence in French: ‘Le caractère partiel de l’économie de marché peut tenir, en effet, soit à l’importance du secteur d’autosuffisance, soit à l’autorité de l’état qui soustrait une partie de la production à la circulation marchande, soit tout autant, ou plus encore, au simple poids de l’argent qui peut, de mille façons, intervenir artificiellement dans la formation des prix.’, Civilisation et Capitalisme, op. cit., p. 262.
- 7.
Joseph Stiglitz uses ‘market mechanisms’ when referring to the reform introduced in East Asian countries, including China, Stiglitz (2010), p. 245.
- 8.
- 9.
This partnership is justified as follows: “because shareholders have only limited liability, they do not bear the full cost of a firm’s actions and therefore cannot claim to be full risk-bearers. Moreover, while outside shareholders can diversify their stock and reduce risk through a portfolio of shares in different companies, one worker cannot work for several companies at the same time. (…) Hence (…) workers should be partners with outside shareholders in sharing control rights and cash flow rights over corporate assets.” Finally, each citizen will receive a tax-free social dividend according to age and family status, meant to cover basic needs, especially in case of illness and unemployment.
- 10.
This has been recognized by the Chinese leadership. See for example Vice-premier Li Keqiang, reported by Reuter: ‘7oo million farmers couldn’t benefit from the country’s rapid growth and prosperity (…) This is about the accelerating change of the economy’s development model—its development should be fast, but stable in the long run and allow all Chinese to participate in the fruits of reform (…) Restructuring income distribution, improving public service and establishing a social security system will help develop the untapped purchasing potential of more than one million Chinese.’ Quoted by Caijing, 5 January 2011.
- 11.
Chieng was born in Marseille to Chinese parents. His family gave him a Chinese education and he attended the French school system up to the top, at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique, the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Adminstration economique and the Institut de Science Politique. He specialized in economics and taught the subject in China (1978–1980). On his return to France, he became director general of one of the oldest French commercial com-panies trading with China, Brambilla-AEC, and became its president in 1988. He is vice-president of the Comité France-Chine and Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur de la France en Chine.
- 12.
Michael Pillsbury is the director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute, is a former analyst at the RAND Corporation and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. During the Reagan administration, Pillsbury (…) was Assistant Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning and responsible for implementation of the covert aid programme known as the Reagan Doctrine. In 1975–1976, while an analyst at the RAND Corporation, Pillsbury published articles on Foreign Policy and International Security recommending that the US establish intelligence and military ties with China. The proposal, publicly commended by Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger and James Schlesinger, later became US policy during the Carter and Reagan administrations. Pillsbury served on the staff of four US Senate Committees from 1978 to 1984 and 1986 to 1991. (…) He also assisted in drafting the legislation to create the National Endowment for Democracy and the annual requirement for a Department of Defense report on Chinese military power. In 1992, under President George H.W. Bush, Pillsbury was Special Assistant for Asian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (…), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pillsbury (accessed 4 June 2016).
- 13.
- 14.
This last assumption corresponds to the attempt of Jiang Zemin to invite businessmen to join the Communist Party.
- 15.
For an interpretation of a historical fundamental change that is generally qualified as ‘the industrial revolution’ as a process of continuous changes that lasted for several decades see Landes (1993).
- 16.
- 17.
The Four Modernizations concern agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defence. I remind that the Four Cardinal Principles are: to keep to the socialist road and to uphold the people's democratic dictatorship, the leadership by the Communist Party, Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. ‘The Four Modernizations were introduced as early as January 1963: at the Conference on Scientific and Technological Work held in Shanghai that month, Zhou Enlai called for professionals in the sciences to realize ‘the Four Modernizations.’ In February 1963, at the National Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology Work, Nie Rongzhen specifically referred to the Four Modernizations as comprising agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology. (…). In 1975, in one of his last public acts, Zhou Enlai made another pitch for the Four Modernizations at the 4th National People's Congress.’ From Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Modernizations, accessed 20 September 2018.
- 18.
This is based upon the two Weberian foundations of power, i.e. the socio-psycho-sociological process of legitimation (be it traditional, legal-rational or charismatic) and the use of administrative and economic resources (Weber 1978).
- 19.
It is interesting to note that this became the new title given to the old Planning commission set up in 1952 for the purpose of steering the planned economy. The new label is ‘National Development and Reform Commission—NDRC, Reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
- 20.
I will not discuss here whether there has been a massacre in Tiananmen Square. Some witnesses stated that the killings took place in the nearby streets, where moreover several ‘pacific’ demonstrators were using weapons to attack police and soldiers, killing (i.e. massacring) several and setting on fire to some of the army’s tanks. Nevertheless, it is admitted that demonstrators were killed, between a few hundreds and a few thousand depending on the sources. For a balanced analysis of the Tiananmen events see Kynge (2009); for a Marxist point of view see Losurdo (2009).
- 21.
All the quotations are drawn from the official English translation published on the China Daily’s website.
- 22.
He also says that: ‘We should uphold and improve the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party and the system of regional ethnic autonomy. We should promote political restructuring, develop democracy, improve the legal system, rule the country by law, build a socialist state under the rule of law and ensure that the people exercise their rights as the masters of the country.’.
- 23.
The length of the two speeches is almost the same; this means that we will not have to standardize the data. and we will simply use the frequencies, i.e. number of times Jiang and Hu refer to the indicators of different types of legitimacy I will define in the following paragraphs.
- 24.
For example, Xi Jinping says: ‘There is greater unity in thinking both within the Party and throughout society’. All the quotations are drawn from the official English translation published on the China Daily’s website.
- 25.
See also the following significative statements about China’s will to pay an important international role: ‘China’s cultural soft power and the international influence of Chinese culture have increased significantly. (…) Taking a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor, and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization. (…) We have strengthened military training and war preparedness, and undertaken major missions related to the protection of maritime rights, countering terrorism, maintaining stability, disaster rescue and relief, international peacekeeping, escort services in the Gulf of Aden, and humanitarian assistance. We have stepped up weapons and equipment development, and made major progress in enhancing military preparedness. The people’s armed forces have taken solid strides on the path of building a powerful military with Chinese characteristics. (…)’.
- 26.
- 27.
See again the quotation of Fernand Braudel on the nature of capitalism, Sect. 2.2.
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Urio, P. (2019). Understanding China’s Strategic Public Management. In: China 1949–2019. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8879-8_2
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