ABSTRACT
Political representation in China follows the Leninist tradition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) practising an extreme form of a trustee relationship, declaring itself to be the sole political organization entitled to represent the legitimate interests of the nation’s people. The CCP claims a special ability to interpret what is in the best interests of the nation and the citizens who reside within it. The CCP’s desire to control representation closely is shown through its attempts to thwart independent candidates from standing in elections, to incorporate important interests in society either into the Party or into traditional institutional structures, and to create new regulatory frameworks to oversee those organizations that have emerged to represent interests that might undermine Party hegemony. The channels for formal representation have expanded greatly under reforms. With the revival of ‘united front’ policies, the other eight political parties play a consultative role, the systems of people’s congresses and people’s consultative conferences have been revived to provide policy input, umbrella organizations have been given limited leeway to represent significant constituencies (labour, women and youth), and efforts have been made to bind new interest groups and elites into regime patronage. In addition to incorporating new groups into the power elite, the CCP has also sought to develop new mechanisms for performance feedback. However, the emergence of new groups and alternative channels for interest expression, such as the new social media, has placed the system of representation under stress. They set new challenges for a Party still wedded to the idea that it is the people’s sole legitimate representative. Political inclusion has been accompanied by repression of those organizations that the Party finds unacceptable. This chapter looks at the formal institutions for representation and how these have changed over time, and the informal mechanisms for representation that have been increasing in influence in recent years.
