Managing Power and Crises in Xi Jinping's China (Pre-Recorded)

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

After four decades of reform following the death of Mao, it is now clear that the ascension of President Xi Jinping marked a turning point, if not a sea change, in the politics of the People’s Republic of China. The papers in this panel help explain this phenomenon, but also problematize it. They show that Xi has concentrated his power at the elite level in a manner unprecedented since the time of Mao. Building on this consolidation at the top and its success in combating COVID-19 across the country, the Chinese Communist Party has greatly enhanced efforts at affective governance, propaganda, information control, and building rule by law. These developments have helped to cement Xi's command of the Party and its governing apparatus. Yet questions remain about the success and sustainability of these efforts, especially in an authoritarian context where the overzealous hand of the state (in areas like policing and minority relations) is still felt acutely by many Chinese. In particular, how and how well the regime will deal with a future existential crisis.

The panel explores these questions from different angles and methodological perspectives. Han, Grafstein, and Givens assess the new power dynamics of politics in the Xi era by using a game theoretic model to show how Xi’s power is consolidated when corrupt officials are removed and allies strategically promoted in their place. Such consolidation may be important during times of crisis. The paper by Esarey and Xiao uses official media reports and hundreds of leaked directives to assess the actions taken by Xi’s government during the Covid-19 outbreak. They show how officials combined the time-tested playbook of propaganda and censorship with relatively effective public health measures to end the crisis and even declare a “victory” worthy of national pride. Moving deeper into propaganda tools and state legitimacy, Sorace traces the conceptualization of gratitude from the Mao era to the present day, arguing that gratitude is used not just as an expression of emotion but as a structure of sovereign power in which the people owe the Communist Party for their success or salvation during times of crisis and duress. Finally, the paper by Scoggins and Givens explores the citizen side of state propaganda and repression under Xi by analyzing a large dataset of legal questions posted on national legal advice websites. They show how the content of the questions provides regional and temporal insight into individual experiences with police violence, corruption, and effectiveness, particularly as they relate to well-publicized instances of police brutality that might shake people’s faith in the system. Taken together, these papers ask and begin to answer the fundamental questions about what managing power looks like in Xi Jinping’s China and how the regime might be able to weather a future crisis.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Individual Presentations

• Faction, Anti-Corruption, and the Consolidation of Xi Jinping’s Power in China - Rongbin Han, University of Georgia; Robert Grafstein, University of Georgia; John Wagner Givens, Kennesaw State University

• Winning the “People’s War” Against Covid: Propaganda and Political Leadership - Ashley Esarey, University of Alberta; Xiao Qiang, University of California-Berkeley

• The Communist Party’s Nervous System: Affective Governance from Mao to Xi - Christian Phillip Sorace, Colorado College

• Bad Cop, Good Lawyer? Using Legal Advice Websites to Challenge Police in China - Suzanne E. Scoggins, Clark University; John Wagner Givens, Kennesaw State University

Chair

• Maria Repnikova Georgia State University

Discussants

• Maria Repnikova Georgia State University

• William Hurst University of Cambridge