Description
Book SynopsisLeadership and Authority in China examines the "constitutional" conflict in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chinese society over two diametrically opposed concepts of leadership and authority.
Trade ReviewSullivan (Adelphi Univ.) seeks to examine the interplay between personal leadership and the primacy of organization and collective deliberation within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which shaped many of the policy and ideological controversies throughout the party's history. Chapters 1-2 offer an overview of the concepts of authority and despotism and how they were understood in China in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. Chapter 3 looks into political authority in the CCP before the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Chapters 4-5 review the intraparty struggle over leadership and authority from the early years of the PRC until the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. Chapter 6 brings up the "question of Mao" and asks whether a single leader will once again reign supreme over Chinese society and politics. In conclusion, Sullivan argues that despite a series of institutional and organizational reforms in the post-Mao era, "whether these changes can avoid the dire predictions of a return to the Maoist-style of leadership remains to be seen." Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. * CHOICE *
In an interdisciplinary tour de force combining conceptual analysis, intellectual history, and keen insights into the political culture of dependency, Lawrence Sullivan in this sweeping conspectus traces the evolution of Chinese authority through the course of three tumultuous revolutions: the 1911 revolt against the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese Communist revolution against 'feudal-bourgeois' authority, and Mao’s chaotic Cultural Revolution. A brilliant discourse on contemporary Chinese politics, suitable for both advanced graduate students and interested lay readers. -- Lowell Dittmer, University of California, Berkeley
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: The Problem of “Feudal Despotism” in Marx and China Chapter 2: Intellectual and Political Controversies Over Authority:1895-1922 Chapter 3: Political Authority in the Chinese Communist Party, Theory and Practice: 1921-1949 Chapter 4: The Struggle Over Leadership and Authority in the CCP, I: 1949-1959 Chapter 5: The Struggle Over Leadership and Authority in the CCP, II: 1959-1976 Chapter 6: Epilogue: On the "Question of Mao" Conclusion
