群眾路線 2.0: 數位治理與中國政權的正當性

Abstract

The Mass Line is a Chinese governance ideology. It is characterized by a high rate of direct engagement between political elites and the masses. The masses engage elites with their demands, while elites are obligated to internalize and meet those demands through state action. Mass Line governance seeks to strengthen these interactions, thereby cultivating a regime responsive to the public’s needs. Existing research into the Mass Line shows the ideology’s enduring relevance to China’s (real-world) domestic political sociology. Yet to be examined is whether the ideology affects online state-society relations. Thus, it is worthwhile to ask, does the Mass Line exist in cyberspace? This is especially important given that the average citizen spends most of their discretionary time online making cyberspace a major sphere of Chinese social life. This paper frame’s the Mass Line concept through general systems theory to explain Chinese e-governance and online state-society relations. It argues that there exists a digital Mass Line. The digital Mass Line is pursued and realized through Chinese e-governance and can be observed functioning through state-operated online institutions. This paper examines the e-government case. The argument is qualitatively tested against a diversity of case data, including policy documents, personal statements, the design and function of online institutions, netizen behavior, and numerical surveys and indexes. This paper supports the view that: (1) the regime designs its online institutions to enable and foster elite-mass direct engagement; (2) that engagement allows social demands to flow from society to state, stimulating responsive state action; (3) demands are generated through mass political participation and responsiveness through communicated resolutions; (4) channels for direct engagement bypasses subordinate authorities undermining obstructive behavior from local officials; (5) the institutions mobilize netizen watchdogs by disseminating oversight enabling information; (6) the participation-responsiveness dynamic supports regime legitimacy by enhancing the public’s sense of political efficacy; (7) institutional design features mobilize netizens to participate through state-preferred communication channels; and (8) “moral authority” provides the social contract that circumscribes online Mass Line modes of elite-mass interactions. The research is theoretically significant because, unlike in the existing literature that characterizes the regime’s responsiveness as defensively motivated and a reaction to the masses’ demands, this paper shows that, in cyberspace, analogous social processes result from a proactive regime and goal-oriented state action.