The Administration’s Retreat and the Party’s Advance in the New Era of Xi Jinping: the Politics of the Ruling Party, the Government, and Associations in China

Abstract

In the new era of Xi Jinping, the Party has become more assertive, reclaiming the function of managing social organizations that the government agencies had carved out for themselves over the past decades. This article utilizes an analytical framework grounded in a party-state-society trichotomy to analyze the interactive dynamics of the politics of the ruling party, the government, and social organizations in China. The article argues that the party-state has pursued a new strategic approach to advance the Party and that the administration has partly retreated in governing and managing social organizations in the new era of Xi Jinping; this is a form of compromise as the party-state is adapting to the market economy and changing society while the party’s dominating role in social organizations strengthens. By analyzing the administration’s retreat and the party’s advance with the case study of Wenzhou City, this article investigates how government agencies and social organizations at the local level respond to the party-state’s new strategic approach. The article concludes with a discussion of the policy implications and with broader reflections on the political trends in other areas of social and economic life affected by the administration’s retreat and the Party’s advance in China.