Book Review: CHINA’S LEADERS
China is a country that lives with its leaders. Leader and leadership is the core for the social and political life. It’s common to see sequential photographs of five generations of the leaders in souvenir shops in the big cities or on the walls of teahouses in the countryside.
Leadership is not limited to political leadership. Extensions of the leadership sequence appear in every aspect of daily life. It is common to see supermarket or hairdresser staff gathered around a "leader" and acting on his or her instructions. The characteristics of China’s Leninist military system also strongly permeated civilian life.
The word "leader" (lingdao) can also be used in replace of titles such as manager or director in daily life. This is normal in a country where Party cadres permeate all areas of social life — physically with Party cells or as an administrative culture. These small leaders in the lower echelon form a leadership line, spreading the will of the “paramount” leader at the top to all layers of the society.
Discussing China through its leaders is a very appropriate way of decoding Chinese politics. David Shambaugh, professor of Asian studies and international relations at George Washington University, is one of the world’s leading sinologists. Shambaugh combines years of living and traveling in China with academic rigor and a reader-friendly writing style. The author’s latest work examines China through its leaders: China’s Leaders From Mao to Now.
The book focuses on five people who have held a “paramount” position in the country’s rule: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping.
He wrote each leader in separate chapters and gave each chapter a title describing that leader/leadership characteristics. He describes Mao as a “populist tyrant”, Deng as a “pragmatic Leninist”, Jiang as a “bureaucratic politician”, Hu as a “technocratic apparatus” and Xi as a “modern emperor”.
Although the book was written for the general reader group, it did not compromise the academic framework to a certain extent. In the introduction, references are made to basic leadership theories. Alongside Max Weber’s famous classification of political authority, American political scientist James MacGregor Burns’ distinction between “transformational” and “transactional” leadership is noted. By entering the field of political-psychology through the narcissistic characteristics of leaders, the author underlines the construction of a “cult of personality” in Chinese politics and makes a “diagnosis” of severe narcissism in Mao, very strong in Xi, and moderate in Jiang Zemin.
Before examining the leaders, two important subheadings were added: First, how China’s historical political culture, and then how the Leninist culture affected the leaders of communist China. These cultures institutionally and normatively define the working and promotion environment for Chinese leaders.
It would be an incomplete reading to look at the rise and rule stories of leaders without being aware of these general frameworks.
This part is important in two respects: Among Chinese analysts, some tend to ignore the effects of the country’s own traditional culture and become overly preoccupied with China’s communist identity, while others tend to see the party’s absolute Leninist organizational style as a long gone stage. However, the CCP is fed from both channels at the same time. (Do not be surprised if one of the channel opens less or more at certain periods.)
While Shambaugh reads China through its leaders, leadership transitions draw attention as the periods when Chinese politics are most dynamic. China went through a painful transition from Mao to Deng. Then the transfer of power from Deng to Jiang and Jiang to Hu worked according to institutional conventions. Even in those corporate transitions, there were tremendous power plays in the background. While the political life of some cadres came to an abrupt end, the stars of others shone.
This book does not just present a biographical history of PRC; It gives the opportunity to see different tones and colors within the one-party government. Sometimes there are competing approaches that fight like two opposing parties. (The recent claim of the "Xi-Li conflict" can also be viewed from this perspective.)
In a one-party regime such as China, we can assume continuity in leadership (we call it “continuity in the state” in Turkey); however, Shambaugh identifies a remarkable degree of disconnection among the five leaders.
The book offers a comprehensive view of the party’s organizational structure. What career steps does an ordinary party member go through, what equipment does he/she acquire in the process, and how can the cadres rise to the highest position of leadership to manage a population of one and a half billion people?
As China approaches a critical Party congress, this book must be at the top of your China readings this year. Politics in China is first and foremost embodied in the personality of a leader.