China frente al reto de la democracia: comunicación y participación política

Abstract

According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA, 2022), China represents an authoritarian regime. In contrast, Xi Jinping - president and secretary general of the Communist Party, considers his State to be democratic. How can we describe his discourse about democracy? What elements does he integrate on it? What communicative instruments does he use to transmit them? Who are they addressed to? To conceptualize democracy and participation in the Chinese case, adjectives are added and constructed, specificities are stablished, and interpretations of the history are created. We will describe the way in which Xi has appropriated the concept and, from his understanding, has applied it. The objectives of the paper are: 1) to identify the discourses that China has built around democracy, and 2) to present the communication instruments that the government has used to disseminate its ideas. The methodological design is qualitative, analyzing representative texts for the case in addition to other official information. The results reflect that China has appropriated the concept and has spread it based on external and internal motivations, encouraging limited forms of participation, with nativist pretensions based on interpretations of history and in defense of sovereignty.