The Communist Party and social management in China

Abstract

At the core of China’s rise lies the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to reinvent itself and its administration. This article investigates one aspect of the gradual overhaul of administrative institutions, processes, and strategies, namely the increasing prominence of neoliberal ideas emanating from the discipline of public management in the recent emphasis on ‘social management’ (社会管理) in government rhetoric and action. The article concludes that social management may ultimately entail a corporatist re-engineering of Chinese society that allows a considerable degree of pluralism while strengthening the leading role of the Party over society.