China's Post-Mao Transition: The Role of the Party and Ideology in the "New Period"

Abstract

CHINA'S POSTMAO TRANSITION has been marked by the steady transformat~tion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from a elite oriented toward utopian goals to a technocratic elite committed to modernizing China. The resulting shift away from goals was largely prompted by the need to avert potential political instability occasioned by increasing popular discontent with the party's revolutionary programme, a cumulative effect of unfulfilled expectations of both social and material benefits. The evident political bankruptcy of the previous leftist leadership has allowed a resurgence of China's right, whose political agenda gives priority to economic development over social transformation. Thus, it is argued here that the effective function of the post-Mao reform programme is to preserve the status quo of party rule by its disassociating the party from its previous ideological raison d'etre and establishing a more relevant, viable, and appealing doctrine for China's modernization. This paper will examine the problems and contradictions inherent in the CCP's complex effort to redefine its legitimating ideology and its role in society.