The CCP's Learning System: Thought Unification and Regime Adaptation

Abstract

In an attempt to mold itself into a “learning Party”, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has recently borrowed the theory of the “learning organization”, a concept derived from Western management. This article argues that, in the process of molding the CCP into a “learning Party”, President Hu Jintao has employed two functions of learning inherited from Party history—thought unification and regime adaptation—to reinforce his own political legitimacy and, accordingly, that of the entire CCP regime. In effect, Hu has created a “learning system”: from collective study by the Politburo, down to study sessions at every level of the Party, Hu is able to disseminate his personal concepts of governance and lay out doctrine for the entire Party. Although Hu Jintao's personal prestige is limited, and not all inner Party policies are guided by the “learning system”, this structure still smoothes the way for the implementation of many of Hu's policies.