The {open_quotes}Command and Control{close_quotes} philosophy of the Communist party of China

Abstract

China`s central political authorities have constructed a system which is designed to enable them to exert their personal influence and control over each level of every organization in the country -- both civil and military. The Communist Party of China (CPC) is represented at all levels of each and every organization, including the People`s Liberation Army (PLA). These Party entities are intended to both provide oversight and to ensure that Party policies, directives and orders are obeyed. This penchant for political control, which may have its roots in China`s imperial past, appears to have been reinforced by the early developmental path chosen by the Party`s leadership. Current attempts aimed at maintaining political control of its resources, especially the military, are embodied in the formal system of {open_quotes}Political Work.{close_quotes} In the PLA, this system of political control results in the involvement of political organs in day-to-day military matters to an extent unheard of in the West. Further work is needed in order to understand, more fully, both the system of {open_quotes}Political Work{close_quotes} and its contributions to the overall military (and civil) command and control philosophic of the Communist Party of China.