The rise of China as a global power has attracted the attention of more and more scholars. With its Western-style economic reform and the consequent rapid economic growth, will China change into a liberal-democratic country? Why does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the world's largest political party, continue to maintain its rule without substantial political reform? What constitutes the base of the CCP's ruling legitimacy? These questions confuse many who have anxiously anticipated the advent of democratization in China. Professor Baogang Guo's book on China's political legitimacy addresses these issues from a new perspective. Guo argues that the key political issue for the CCP today is not the pursuit of Western democracy, but the continuous “search for political legitimacy” (p. 184), following the Chinese tradition.
Building on existing legitimacy theories, Guo develops two important concepts: the “original justification” for “rulers’ right to govern” rests upon people's “tacit moral support” and the “utilitarian justification” is largely related to people's “well-being” (p. 7). Meanwhile, unlike other scholars who ignore the influence of tradition on contemporary Chinese politics, Guo makes efforts to connect his concepts with the Chinese cultural tradition. He uses them to explain the traditional Chinese “two-dimensional view of legitimacy” (p. 184), which remains influential and opposite to the Western liberal political tradition. The “original justification” for legitimacy as a “consensual” dimension (p. 7) was shown in the old mandate-of-heaven view, the “rule by virtue” ideology, and the principle of “fairness” (p. 184), along with the people-as-the-foundation idea. The “utilitarian justification” for legitimacy as an “instrumental” dimension (p. 7) was achieved as a result of efforts to nurture, benefit, and enrich people. In addition, his analysis of legitimacy incorporates economic concepts: efficiency-versus-equity and trade-off. He argues that the goals of equity and efficiency pulled in different directions; politicians generally could only achieve one at the cost of the other in a certain period. The choice between the two patterns—the “efficiency-driven” and the “equity-driven” (p. 12)—is determined by whether political leaders need to expand their legitimacy base.
Guo uses the above concepts to analyze China's politics over the past decades. The CCP's first generation of revolutionary leaders depended largely on the communist revolution and the equality-and-equity-based Marxist-Leninist ideology to achieve “original justification” (p. 47). Economic sluggishness in the 1970s forced the second, technocrat, generation to use a “utilitarian justification” (p. 59), particularly successful economic reform, to hold its legitimacy and adopt an “efficiency-first strategy” (p. 55) to promote modernization, but at the cost of equity. Given the problems caused by this strategy, the current new elite generation switches to an “equity-enhancing” (p. 37) stand to consolidate and expand its legitimacy base and thus returns to the original humanist justification evident in China's traditional political culture. Guo discusses major developments related to this new political orientation, including the limitations of China's “deliberative democracy” (p. 63) at various levels. Further, he analyzes in detail recent changes in policies on the environment, labor, and health care and points out that these changes are “equity-oriented” (p. 132) and to some extent involve public participation or deliberation. He concludes that this equity-promoting politics, while including the democratization elements, essentially is to seek political legitimacy. Political democratization in China will be based on “a one-party democracy” that introduces some “participation and deliberation” into the CCP's “oligarchic elite rule” and will continue certain traditional elements in “a workable political solution” (pp. 193–194).
Obviously, Guo's study provides a new foundation to better understand contemporary Chinese politics. His justification concepts and approach of emphasizing the importance of China's traditional political culture help to solve the complicated CCP legitimacy issue confusing many people. Nevertheless, his discussion of the traditional Chinese view on legitimacy is problematic. While he points out that this traditional view pays much attention to equity issues, he fails to clearly explain whether or not it valued efficiency and whether the enriching-and-nurturing-people ideas belong to the “people-centered” category or the “material-based” one (pp. 34–35). Also, in analyzing the rule-by-virtue idea, he only highlights the virtue of benevolence but excludes others. Although it was certainly an important virtue, benevolence was closely connected with other virtues such as propriety, righteousness, faithfulness, and filial piety. These virtues, like benevolence, had become a necessary part of dominant Confucian ideology. The Chinese ruling class always utilized and counted on them to consolidate its rule and strengthen its political legitimacy.
Despite these omissions, Guo's book is a valuable addition to the current literature on Chinese politics. Its justification concepts are original. Its analysis is thoughtful. Its organization is clear. And its writing is easy to follow. He addresses well a wide range of audiences. Anyone interested in contemporary Chinese political development, whether scholars, students, or others, will find that the monograph is indispensable.
