The Dynamics of Elite Politics during the Jiang Era

Abstract

In structural, functional and normative respects, elite politics during Jiang Zemin's era has become more rational, normal and predictable. While Jiang himself probably deserves some credit, as this occurred on his watch, the causes of many of these positive changes in Chinese elite politics were largely systemic and autonomous in their origins. Unlike China's leaders in the 1980s, there is little evidence to suggest that Jiang and his key advisors on inner-Party affairs had a blueprint-much less a vision-for transforming elite politics in the 1990s and beyond. Indeed, many of the notable changes during Jiang's tenure in office have been the result of decisions and initiatives taken during the 1980s. But with the passage of time, after the immediate post-1989 interregnum, the earlier initiatives have taken root and germinated. Cumulatively, they amount to a fairly comprehensive overhaul of the ways in which the Party, state and military elite operate, the sources of recruitment into the elite and the bases for elite legitimacy. This article briefly takes account of the changes in Chinese elite politics during the Jiang era in several realms.