book recommended to me:
Kerry Brown: Ballot Box China,
Univ. of Chicago Press 2011
https://www.amazon.com/Ballot-Box-China-Grassroots-Democracy/dp/1848138202
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo20847730.html
Blurb:
"Since 1988, China has undergone one of the largest, but least
understood experiments in grassroots democracy. Across 600,000
villages in China, with almost a million elections, some three million
officials have been elected. The Chinese government believes that this
is a step towards democracy with Chinese characteristics'. But to many
involved in them, the elections have been mired by corruption,
vote-rigging and cronyism. This book looks at the history of these
elections, how they arose, what they have achieved and where they
might be going, exploring the specific experience of elections by
those who have taken part in them - the villagers in some of the most
deprived areas of China."
Brief review in Times Higher Education:
China is democratic - according to the Chinese Communist Party. Kerry
Brown knows better. He does not portray China as democratic under the
normal definition, but he does see China as practising democracy at
the grass-roots level. The ballot box in the title of this book refers
to elections at the village level, which were introduced at the end of
the 1980s. To Brown, village elections matter because "they occur in a
part of the country and in a sector of society which history tells us
matter hugely", and because they "are connected to the larger debate
about democracy in China, and that is connected to a whole
constellation of issues, from building the rule of law, to creating
civil society, to the very issue of legitimacy of the CCP itself".
Brown is right that village elections tell us much about the nature of
the regime. As China rises and is being taken seriously as a global
power, the rest of the world needs to understand it better, including
in particular the nature of its politics. The main body of this book
does not, however, really support the argument that village elections
in China are in any real sense democratic. As Brown observes, "Village
elections were not meant to be the seeds of anything else." He adds:
"There are plenty of cases of Party branch secretaries (or the real
power holders) viewing these elections as a threat, trying to stop
people standing who might compete with them, or simply obstructing the
whole process". That elections at the village level are taking place
at all represents a huge change from the old Maoist
near-totalitarianism. But holding elections that do not offer voters a
real choice, or the opportunity for any political party apart from the
governing party to win, is hardly democratic.
Brown is nonetheless excited by the village elections. It appears to
reflect his obvious devotion to China and the Chinese, which seems to
have affected his and indeed many China-watchers' judgement. This may
well be the reason why he is willing to accept the Communist Party's
assertion of "Chinese democracy" - by which it means "intra-party
democracy". In other words, the Party would allow more candidates to
compete for offices, but all must be loyal Party members. In reality,
it is just a means to enhance governance capacity. It also means that
Chinese citizens can have "free" elections at the village level,
provided the results will not produce unacceptable surprises to the
Party.
He also seems to have accepted the Party's monopoly of "Chineseness".
Thus, the Leninist concept of democratic centralism, which is the
essence of "Chinese democracy", is regarded as Chinese. But it is not.
Leninism is a Soviet import, not a Chinese invention. The extensive
introduction of consultation after the end of the Maoist era, and
village elections, which are almost invariably guided by the Party,
fit in better with this Leninist concept than with democracy. If one
rejects claims of Leninism's Chinese character, "Chinese democracy" is
neither Chinese nor democratic.
Should non-China specialists read this book? Yes, if you want a highly
readable and engaging introduction to the current political scene in
China, although one should bear in mind the caveats above. Critical
readers will in any event make up their own minds whether they will
accept Brown's, or the Communist Party's, definitions of democracy as
applied to China. Aside from this interpretation issue, the book
provides an easy-to-read short overview of where China has come from,
and where the Party is taking it in terms of the general direction of
political development.