Cheng Li, William R. Kenan Professor of Government, has written an article, "China's Inner-Party Democracy: Toward a System Of 'One Party, Two Factions'?," posted on the front page of the Jamestown Foundation Web site. Li writes about two coalitions, the "elitist" and the "populist," and the ongoing balancing of power between these two groups within the Chinese Communist Party. He describes these developments as an evolving "system of 'one Party, two factions'."
The two coalitions represent two starkly different socio-political and geographical constituencies, according to Li. Many of the leaders of the elitist coalition were educated abroad and have advanced in the areas of finance, trade, foreign affairs, IT industries and education. The leaders in the elitist coalition often represent the interests of the economic and cultural elites as well as the most economically-advanced coastal regions.
By contrast, most of the members of the populist coalition advanced in their political careers through local and provincial administrations, and many worked in the areas of youth affairs, rural administration, Party organization, propaganda, united front work and legal affairs.
Li concludes, "Factional politics is certainly not new in China; what is novel is the trend toward cooperation and the sharing of power rather than the traditional zero-sum game in which the winner takes all. … we may soon witness an even more dynamic and 'bipartisan' phase in the development of China's elite politics for the 17th Party Congress next fall."
The Jamestown Foundation informs and educates policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information. According to the organization's Web site, "Over the past two decades, Jamestown has developed an extensive global network of such experts -- from the Black Sea to Siberia, from the Persian Gulf to the Pacific. This core of intellectual talent includes former high-ranking government officials and military officers, political scientists, journalists, scholars and economists. Their insight contributes significantly to policymakers engaged in addressing today's new and emerging global threats, including that from international terrorists."
