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Publication details
- Wednesday | 07 Oct, 2020
- Shakeel Ahmed Ramay, Aimen Babur
- Research Reports,Project Publications
- 109
Introduction The sudden emergence of China as a global power has amazed many across the globe. Once an isolated and economically deprived country, China has defied Fukuyama’s prediction of continued American dominance through its stunning social and economic development (Fukuyama, 1989). In the light of ever increasing Chinese influence in global economic and power structure, experts are studying its governance and development model extensively. It is quite appalling to see the country, once called out for its rigid socialist rule, is now being applauded for its extraordinary governance and development model. China has followed the concept of scientific socialism, which captures its customized and flexible version of Marxist administrative policies. Consequently, the Chinese governance model is a unique mix of communist and westernized liberal democratic school of thoughts with Chinese characteristics (Ramay et al. n.d.). The institutional reforms of China comprise of numerous fundamental changes aimed to improve state of economy and governance gradually while ensuring that its benefits are passed on to people at grass roots level. Chairman Mao brought about reforms in 1949 and his legacy continued to bring positive impact on institutional governance. Mao took a number of steps to address accumulation of wealth in the hands of few by streamlining efforts against corruption and targeting class difference. After him, Deng Xiaoping opted for economic impetus through foreign investments. The goal was to alleviate widespread poverty in the country. President Xi Jinping, who took over in 2012, continued with this chain of reforms. Ever since he took over the system, he opted for a number of revolutionary policies . November 2013 was a hallmark for Chinese governance model as the Chinese Communist Party, led by Xi, opted for large-scale structural reforms, thereby enhancing its governance capacity (Bai & Liu, 2020). As stressed by Xu Xianglin, a political reformer working closely with higher authorities, the purpose of these institutional reforms is to include social demands into all state institutions. The socialist governance model, as adopted under the dynamic leadership of President Xi Jinping, signals a clear paradigm shift where the nationalist rhetoric has been revived through teaching and guidance in social, economic, and political spheres by the state. Such ideology, while in direct conflict with liberal democratic model of governance, depicts that the apex role of Communist Party continues till date, thereby delegating highest level of decision-making to the said party exclusively (Seesaghur, 2015). However, it is pertinent to mention here that Chinese Communist Party (CPC) does not act as a ruling or political entity. It preferred to act as father figure of nation and known as servant of the people and society. President Xi laid out a comprehensive policy of reforms, which are known as the president Xi’s philosophy of governance. The reform policy has been designed to achieve the China Dream which revolves around the concepts of prosperity, harmony and shared destiny. China Dream comprises of the national ideals as envisioned by President Xi. He embarked upon numerous social, political and economic reforms successfully to overcome imbalanced economic progress. His mettle was resonated in enhanced economic and diplomatic interventions of China, thereby increasing China’s significance in regional and global horizons. President Xi started his second tenure by announcing the New Era of Modernization of China. The blueprint for his future plans, as demonstrated in the 19th CPC National Congress 2017, implicate that China’s take on socialism is entering a new phase. Under President Xi’s dynamic leadership, China is foreseen as a modern socialist country promoting economic, cultural, political, social and ecological co-ordinations at all platforms. Among global leadership, President Xi is seen as a reformer determined to outdo traditional democratic and autocratic governance structure throughChina’s take on socialist model (Chen, 2015). This paper focuses on the governance and development model being followed by China with emphasis on comprehensive reforms introduced by President Xi.