China's Prolonged Stability and Political Future: Same political system, different policies and methods

Abstract

Contrary to the earlier political upheavals which culminated in the 1989 Prodemocracy Movement, China has achieved an extended stability in the 1990s. This paper argues that the prolonged stability resulted from a set of changes in China's state‐society relations, and much of it was related to the 1989 movement. After the 1989 movement, the CCP veterans selected younger leaders who were both reform-minded and had a Machiavellian sense of politics. This new leadership skillfully managed the economy and contained dissident activities from public attention. Reform and the booming economy also provided many opportunities for intellectuals and students and turned them from the earlier economic 'losers' into the current 'winners'. As market forces penetrated into China more deeply and the state no longer took charge of everything as it used to, the Chinese became less interested in national politics, and political conflicts localized. This paper also argues that although China's state‐society relations underwent great changes, the state still bases its legitimacy on performance and is thus intrinsically unstable. A political reform that aims at changing the basis of state legitimation becomes crucial.