The Level and Sources of Popular Support for China's Current Political Regime

Abstract

This article assumes that whether the current Chinese authoritarian government can maintain socio-political stability during the potentially turbulent transition to the post-Deng Xiaoping era depends, at least in part, upon the level of popular support for the political regime (or regime legitimacy). Based on data derived from a sample survey of Beijing residents, this study seeks to address two fundamental questions: “To what extent does the current Chinese communist regime enjoy public support?” and “What are the possible sources of popular support for the political regime in contemporary China?” The findings in this study suggest that (1) the current communist regime still enjoys a moderately high level of popular support, and (2) popular support for the regime is most likely to be found among those who are optimistic about the country's economic and political futures, who are most satisfied with their life, who give high evaluations of incumbent policies, who often follow public affairs, and who are older. Based on these findings, the article concludes that the current communist regime seems to have a good chance of remaining legitimate among a majority of the Chinese people, while it is still facing serious challenges from its policy performance in some major public policy areas.

Asia-Pacific Security: Policy Challenges

“…Given the fact that there is a widely shared fear among Chinese people of any potential domestic chaos in the aftermath of the regime changes in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the performance of the government in these two areas has been crucial for the government to justify its continued rule (Chen, Yang and Hillard 1997). Thus, the Chinese leadership's willingness to appeal to popular nationalistic sentiments remains subordinate to its overriding goal of promoting economic development and maintaining political stability (Downs and Philips 1998~99;Zhao 2000;Zheng 2000).…”

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

“…See e.g. surveys of the Asian Barometer Project [3]; the World Values Survey [93]; the Pew Global Attitudes Project [59]; or studies featuring opinion polls or other surveys such as Chen [13]; Chen et al [15]; Gilley [28]; Shi [72]; Tang [79]; Shi and Lou [73]; Walder [87]; some contributions in White [90]; Zhong [109]. For those further studies pointing at the success of China's central government in adopting relevant policies and allowing for their adaptation to local demands during the implementation process, see e.g.…”

“…We suggest an approach involving bounded rationality at this juncture, 15 as exemplified by Fritz W. Scharpf's concept of actor-centered institutionalism [67], in order to study the strategic behavior of collective actors under institutional constraints. We conceptualize these actors as strategic groups, i.e.…”

“…We conceptualize these actors as strategic groups, i.e. groups who 15 Bounded rationality (or rationalism) as understood in this context pertains to the new institutionalism in the social sciences [58], which investigates the inter-relationship between agency and institutions (for China see Lieberthal [44]; Tsai [83][84][85]) and also looks at feedback processes to analyze institutional stability and change ( [60,80]). 14 Other authors identify fewer or more phases.…”

Supply and Support for Grassroots Political Reform in Rural China

“…Another key 9 Brandt et al, p. 69. variable is support distinction (or lack of distinction) between the leaders and the institutional process. According to the democratization literature, the most stable type of support for democracy is intrinsic.…”