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10 - Varieties of Patronage in a Single-Party State

Ministers in China

from Part III - Autocracies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2023

By
Jiangnan Zhu ,
Siqin Kang  and
Yaowensong Song
Edited by
B. Guy Peters ,
Colin Knox  and
Byeong Seob Kim
B. Guy Peters
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Colin Knox
Affiliation:
Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan
Byeong Seob Kim
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
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Summary

Extant literature on Chinese elite politics tend to argue that Chinese officials work under a political system very different from a western-Weberian bureaucracy. Factional patron-client relationship is considered a dominant factor affecting political appointment of high-level officials. However, prior findings have been mainly based on governors of provincial or prefectural jurisdictions or central committee members. State Council ministers and vice-ministers are largely missing in the previous analysis. Our research examines State Council ministers and vice-ministers under the administration of President Xi Jinping. This high-level bureaucrat group arguably is most comparable to the political appointees in Weberian bureaucracies. We systematically analyze their types of patronage along the policy-politics divide and loyalty basis. We also bring in the dimension of expertise to further identify the extent of professionalization of Chinese ministers. We find a variety of patronage existing among Chinese ministers. Political loyalty is only one kind of the patronage affecting personnel configurations of the State Council.

Keywords

Elite politicsthe State Councilministers and vice-ministerspatronageloyaltyexpertiseparty-stateChina
Type
Chapter
Information
Political Patronage in Asian Bureaucracies , pp. 231 - 259
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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