Embedding the Party in State and Society: From Integrated to Embedded Domination During China’s COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

ABSTRACT As COVID-19 unfolded, China’s response seemed to signal an expansion of the state’s presence and control of society. Examination of the COVID-19 crisis provides a lens for exploring the strategies of domination that has unfolded in the Xi Jinping era, and offers insight into how party, state and society relations might play out during a crisis. This article draws on data obtained from interviews conducted in Beijing and Shanghai, a survey of over 300 residents’ views on resident committees during the Shanghai lockdown and analysis of state media and policy documents. It argues that the COVID-19 crisis exemplified the ‘embedding’ of party networks at the grassroots as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) shifted from direct to indirect control over society. The strategy of ‘embedded’ domination involved the deployment of ad hoc party branches, “sinking down” of party cadres to communities as a campaign style of governance and leveraging residents’ committees as visible units of control in the ‘people’s war’ against the pandemic. By shifting from ‘integrated’ to ‘embedded’ domination during the crisis, the CCP mobilised civil society for Party building and state security, boosting its authority, influence and control over both state and society.