Legitimacy In China Research Articles

Subnational FDI Legitimacy and the Survival of Foreign Subsidiaries

Using an organizational ecology perspective, we examine how the evolving FDI legitimacy in China at a subnational level influences the survival of Japanese subsidiaries there. Based on a longitudinal dataset (1998–2009) aggregated from Toyo Keizai, China Statistical Yearbook, and other sources, we find a U-shaped relationship between FDI legitimacy and the likelihood of subsidiary exit, with improving FDI legitimacy over time. The U-shaped relationship is moderated by the number of Japanese subsidiaries in the province where the subsidiaries reside such that the curve is flatter for subsidiaries located in provinces where there are more Japanese subsidiaries. We also find that with improving FDI legitimacy, the use of higher levels of expatriates and ownership will tend to jeopardize subsidiary survival for larger subsidiaries. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Weibo communication and government legitimacy in China: a computer-assisted analysis of Weibo messages on two ‘mass incidents’†

This article, based on a computer-assisted analysis of Weibo communications about two recent ‘mass incidents’ in China, offers a model for understanding online communication's influence on government legitimacy. This study explores the discourse of Weibo discussions on social protests and what impacts this discourse may have on the legitimacy of Chinese government in the digital environment. The Weibo discourses on the two mass incidents suggest two modes of online communication: one-way communication, where local residents have taken the initiative and two-way communication, initiated by both local residents and national elites. Different themes the discourses have touched suggest different types and levels of impacts Weibo discussions have on government legitimacy. More precisely, the discourse in which there is a critique of the current national political system in China is more challenging to government legitimacy than the one in which there are only demands for local changes. The online discourse about the Haimen incident on Weibo even can be seen as reinforcing government legitimacy. Therefore, the impact of online communication on government legitimacy is relative and depends on specific cases. To understand the power of online communication requires us to analyse the nature of online discourses about specific cases and then examine them within external social and political contexts and by comparing them with one another. Contextual dynamics such as social problems and tensions can function as an indicator for understanding the type and level of impact of online communication on government legitimacy.

Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss, and the Issue of Political Legitimacy in China

ABSTRACT Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the works of Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss have become popular in Chinese academic circles. Professor Liu Xiaofeng and Professor Gan Yang are two of the most prominent Chinese political philosophers who have actively introduced Schmitt and Strauss to China. Schmitt and Strauss, according to Liu and Gan, provide the Chinese with new theoretical resources with which to analyze and consider the issue of political legitimacy in China. This article mainly explores these two Chinese political philosophers' own theories by analyzing their interpretations or uses of Schmitt and Strauss. It points out that their uses of Schmitt and Strauss are unable to solve the crisis of political legitimacy in China.

The Politics of Presence: Voice, Deity Possession, and Dilemmas of Development Among Tibetans in the People's Republic of China

AbstractTaking inspiration from linguistic anthropological approaches to the work of the Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975), this article uses a Bakhtinian perspective on voice as contested presence to analyze the post-Mao revival of mountain deity possession practices among Tibetans in China's northwestern province of Qinghai. I respond to recent work that suggests that state-led development processes have intensified grassroots contests over the moral sources of authority and legitimacy in China, by contrasting the ambivalent voices of an urbanizing village's Tibetan Party secretary with those of the village's deity medium, during a mid-2000s village conflict. The conflict underscored a crisis of authority or moral “presence” among Tibetans under intensifying central state-led development pressures that for many carried forward the disenfranchisement of Tibetans that started in the 1950s.

Away from socialism, towards Chinese characteristics: Confucianism and the futures of Chinese nationalism

Following the success of China’s economic reform in the past few decades, Chinese nationalism has entered a new stage. The sentiment born of ‘the century of national humiliation’ is insufficient to explain the phenomenon of Chinese new nationalism. In this new era, China no longer regards the West as the benchmark against which it defines its success, but is becoming more assertive about its own values and perspectives. This emphasis on a Chinese perspective is related to the cultural shift in China’s post-socialist transition, where the source of legitimacy in China’s development has moved from an ideological dimension of socialism to a cultural dimension of ‘Chinese characteristics’. Following this transition, growing importance is being placed on an indigenous voice in many aspects of China’s development, including the recent efforts to reinvent traditional Chinese culture as a source of China’s soft power. In particular, with strong state sponsorship, Confucianism is being revived as a new nationalist discourse, which not only provides new discursive resources for continuing authoritarianism in mainland China, but also redefines governance and nation-building with respect to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Morality, Benevolence, and Responsibility: Regime Legitimacy in China from Past to the Present

Taking an interpretive approach, this study argues that Chinese political tradition plays an important role in the maintenance of regime legitimacy in China today. Contrary to the popular view that the Chinese Communist regime relies primarily on economic performance to sustain its legitimacy, the current regime legitimacy is maintained because of the historically rooted moral bond between the state and society and the societal expectation that the state would be responsible for the wellbeing of the population. The regime legitimacy in China has three overlapping layers: The basic layer is the morality of political elite. The crucial part of the morality is the benevolent governance which specifies that the government has to be compassionate to the people. The central component of a benevolent government is the state responsibility to the welfare of the people. All together, these layers create a moral bond between the state and society. The government will enjoy legitimacy as far as the society expects it to fulfill its end of the deal. This study further argues that the morality-based regime legitimacy in China has to be calibrated within its multi-level power structure. Governments at different levels enjoy different degree of legitimacy and face different degree of challenges. In general, the central government enjoys the most legitimacy and faces the least challenges comparing to the local governments. This multi-level power structure would cushion many regime legitimacy crises.

‘Constructing a New Socialist Countryside’ and Beyond: An Analytical Framework for Studying Policy Implementation and Political Stability in Contemporary China

This article proposes a two-dimensional analytical framework to investigate the impact of local policy implementation on political system stability and legitimacy in China. It combines David Easton’s political systems theory with policy analysis and a variant of actor-centered institutionalism known as “strategic group analysis”. In the second part of the article, this framework is applied to a case study on local implementation of the official “constructing a new socialist countryside” policy in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province.

How private enterprises establish organizational legitimacy in China's transitional economy

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reveal how Chinese private entrepreneurs behaved in a transition economy with a weak institutional environment to obtain organizational legitimacy.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on five consecutive nation‐wide surveys from 1997 to 2006 in China, the study provides empirical evidence and theoretical explanation on private entrepreneurs' behaviors in obtaining organizational legitimacy in China's transition economy.FindingsThe paper finds that the institutional environment in China's transition economy for private firms was weak. Specifically, weak property protection and Three Payouts showed a high risk of property confiscation for private firms; an under‐developed (discriminatory) financial system and a weak credit system had been big obstacles for the development of private firms, which resulted in debt chain among firms, a substitution for the weak financial system. Under such a hostile institutional environment where firms have been facing a high risk of organizational legitimacy, private entrepreneurs have great willingness to connect with government officers, participate in PC or CPPCC which are likely be politically connected, employ isomorphism in organizational structure, apply government‐oriented corporate social responsibility behaviors, on which they depend to obtain organizational legitimacy in transitional economy.Originality/valueThe paper exhibits the institutional environment in the past ten years in China's transition economy, and proposes the likely ways in which private entrepreneurs choose to establish legitimacy under a weak institutional environment.

The Debate on Party Legitimacy in China: a mixed quantitative/qualitative analysis

We report results here from a mixed quantitative–qualitative analysis of 168 articles published in China on the question of regime and party legitimacy. We find that ideology remains a leading strategy of future legitimation for the CCP, alongside better known strategies of institution-building and social justice. We also find that liberalism, while less often proposed, remains a potent critique of regime legitimacy. We use these results to make predictions about the evolutionary path of institutional change of China's political system, linking up Chinese elite debate with the wider scholarly debate of authoritarian durability.

Organizational Challenges and Strategic Responses of Retail TNCs in Post-WTO-Entry China

abstractIn the context of a market characterized by the enduring legacy of socialism through governmental ownership of retail businesses, the continued presence of domestic retailers, and increasing levels of competition, this article examines the organizational challenges faced by, and the strategic responses adopted by, a group of leading food and general merchandise retail transnational corporations (TNCs) in developing networks of stores in the post-WTO-entry Chinese market. On the basis of extensive interview-based fieldwork conducted in China from 2006 to 2008, the article details the attempts of these retail TNCs to embed their operations in Chinese logistics and supply networks, real estate markets, and consumer cultures—three dimensions that are fundamental to the achievement of market competitiveness by the retail TNCs. The article illustrates how this process of territorial embeddedness presents major challenges for the retail TNCs and how their strategic responses vary substantially, indicating different routes to the achievement of organizational legitimacy in China. The article concludes by offering an analysis of the various strategic responses of the retail TNCs and by suggesting some future research propositions on the globalization of the retail industry.

Evolving FDI Legitimacy and Strategic Choice of Japanese Subsidiaries in China

We examine how evolving FDI legitimacy in China influences two strategic choices (entry mode and expatriate staffing) of Japanese subsidiaries there over the period 1993–2000, based on data aggregated from Toyo Keizai and the National Bureau of Statistics of China (various years). As FDI legitimacy improves over time, we find that smaller subsidiaries tend to choose the wholly owned subsidiary mode and deploy a higher percentage of expatriates, whereas larger subsidiaries tend to choose the joint venture mode and use a lower percentage of expatriates; and that Japanese subsidiaries are more likely to have a local manager, and this tendency may be stronger for larger subsidiaries. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed from a density dependence theory perspective.

Village elections in contemporary China New Spaces for Generating Regime Legitimacy? Experiences from Lishu County

This article discusses the impact of direct village elections on regime legitimacy in China’s local government. Applying a model based on David Easton’s political systems theory, it is argued that village elections in Lishu county, Jilin province, have contributed significantly to increased social stability and the quality of local governance, resulting in more regime legitimacy. “Rational trust” on the part of the peasants in their cadres may best explain the observation that the cadres’ political supremacy has not been challenged by direct elections.

Securing network legitimacy in China's telecommunication market

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the importance and approaches in securing an organization's legitimacy from the network community of customers, suppliers and manufacturers, including private investors and state‐owned institutions when marketing their products.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents an inductive interpretative approach complimented by action‐based research founded on inquiry and testing.FindingsThe paper finds that the key to legitimacy success involves using legitimacy orientations to demonstrate commitment to the interests of constituents, acquiring legitimacy from them, but concurrently considering the central government's influence on a firm's legitimacy performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe multiple interactions proposed in this paper remain untested and might have to be modified pending further empirical testing and analysis.Practical implicationsIn China's telecommunication market, a company's legitimacy emanates first and foremost from the development and commercialization of innovative and creative technological solutions. This requires good, creative management of technological resource and activity links, connecting the company's technology to network constituents which include local manufacturers, carriers, software developers, investors.Originality/valueThis is the first published paper that examines the proposed interactions among legitimacy orientations, alignments, and performances from a “market‐as‐network” perspective in a dynamic, transitional Chinese telecommunication market.

Identity, Community, And Audience: How Wholly Owned Foreign Subsidiaries Gain Legitimacy In China

Conceptualizing different foreign entry modes as distinct organizational forms, we examine how wholly owned foreign subsidiaries (WOFSs) gain legitimacy in a host country. Drawing on the institutional and ecological perspectives, we build a legitimation framework based on the ideas of identity, community, and audience. Specifically, we identify dual sources of legitimating influences for these subsidiaries in China in 1979–95: foreign direct investment (FDI) communities, and host country public opinion. Our findings reveal that the legitimation and competition dynamics of FDI communities and Chinese acceptance of the organizational form both influenced adoption of wholly owned foreign subsidiaries in China.

History repackaged in the age of print: the Sanguozhi and Sanguo yanyi

For over a millennium, the issue of the Shu-Han succession during the Three Kingdoms era (220–265 CE) has served as a proxy for debates about the relative merits of territorial control, blood relationship, and moral qualifications as grounds for imperial legitimacy in China. Debate reached a new height after the fall of north China during the twelfth century, a period when a revitalization of Confucian studies led to a greater interest in the publishing of private histories. This article deals with two little-known revisions of the official history of the Three Kingdoms period, the Sanguozhi, that sought to reflect the legitimacy debate at a time of alien conquest. It is argued that revisionist historians deviated from the norms of traditional historiography by devising new narrative strategies to further their political agenda. These innovations in turn influenced the formation of a new genre of historical fiction.

Ideological Reform and Political Legitimacy in China: Challenges in the Post-Jiang Era

As a Socialist country undergoing rapid social and economic transition, China presents a revealing case study on the role of ideology in the process of institutional change. Based on Douglass North’s theory of institutional change and on David Beetham’s theory of political legitimation, this paper argues that recent ideological reforms have been a crucial factor in sustaining the legitimacy of Communist party rule. Ideological change is conceived as a path-dependent process which helps to stabilize the social perception of transition and to frame the party’s modernization achievements. At the same time, the dominant role of ideology makes the Chinese party-state, despite its economic success, more vulnerable to legitimacy crises compared to other authoritarian regimes.

Challenging The Mandate Of Heaven: Popular Protest in Modern China

Arguing that popular protest has played an unusual role in bestowing political legitimacy in China, this article traces continuities in state responses to protest movements from imperial days to the present. The author compares the government's recent handling of three different types of protest: economically motivated actions by hard-pressed workers and farmers, nationalistically inspired demonstrations by patriotic students, and (at greater length) religiously rooted resistance by zealous believers. The central authorities' tolerance toward localized strikes and tax riots, and their overt encouragement of protests against the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, contrasts sharply with the harsh and unrelenting campaign of repression that has been directed against Falun Gong adherents. Explanations for these variant state responses are sought in historically grounded assessments of the political implications of different types of popular protest.

Challenging The Mandate Of Heaven: Popular Protest in Modern China

Arguing that popular protest has played an unusual role in bestowing political legitimacy in China, this article traces continuities in state responses to protest movements from imperial days to the present. The author compares the government's recent handling of three different types of protest: economically motivated actions by hard-pressed workers and farmers, nationalistically inspired demonstrations by patriotic students, and (at greater length) religiously rooted resistance by zealous believers. The central authorities' tolerance toward localized strikes and tax riots, and their overt encouragement of protests against the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, contrasts sharply with the harsh and unrelenting campaign of repression that has been directed against Falun Gong adherents. Explanations for these variant state responses are sought in historically grounded assessments of the political implications of different types of popular protest.

To Screw Foreigners is Patriotic: China's Avant-Garde Nationalist

In 'A Beijing Man in New York' (Beijingren zai Niuyue), China's popular 1993 tele-series, the protagonist Wang Qiming, a man on his way to making a fortune after a train of failures and betrayals, hires a New York prostitute. She is white, blonde and buxom. Wang decides to take some of his frustrations out on her. While thrusting himself onto the prostrate prostitute, Wang showers her with dollar bills. As the money swirls around the bed, Wang demands that she repeatedly cry out: 'I love you'. Reportedly, this was an extremely popular scene with mainland audiences, in particular with the Chinese intelligentsia.l It is also the type of

Illegal drugs, policy change, and state power: The case of contemporary China

This article describes and analyzes the rapid resurgence of illegal drugs in contemporary China since the late 1970s. It also examines the evolution and implementation of China's anti‐narcotic policy, especially the people's war on drugs launched in 1990. It is suggested that the resurgence of drug trafficking and drug abuse provides additional evidence of the severe erosion of regime legitimacy in China