Party in Pandemic: Political Organizations and COVID-19 Response in China

• In Event: Pandemic Effects

Abstract

In a time of individualism and personality-based politics, mass-based political parties are increasingly seen as relics from the past. Contrary to this view, this article makes the case for the importance of such organizations by arguing that they can serve as an important institution to coordinate and mobilize the society beyond electoral politics. We illustrate this point by examining how local organizations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responded to the Covid-19 outbreak. We develop novel, city-level measures for two organizational qualities of local CCP branches—selectivity in recruitment and capacity for mobilization—and study how these two qualities shape localities’ performance in pandemic control. Drawing on an array of official and unofficial data sources, we find consistent evidence that localities with stronger party organizations adopted quicker and more effective lockdown measures that potentially saved many lives, but at the same time also witnessed more duty-related deaths by party members and volunteers. Further analysis of social media posts from this period suggests that party members were most active in leading community-level responses and coordinating the production and supply of essential materials during lockdowns. These results suggest strong political organizations may benefit the broader society in a time of crisis by motivating individuals to make difficult, yet sometimes necessary, personal sacrifices for the collective good.

Authors

• Junyan Jiang, Columbia University

• Tianguang Meng, Tsinghua University

• Zesen Yang, Tsinghua University