The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers

摘要

Even though the CCP faces a number of challenges, its power and control over the lives of the people is immense. Even today, party membership is seen as a ticket to a better life. This factor helps its popularity. The CCP is an extremely alert organisation and it has managed to keep a firm grip because it has successfully leaned from the mistakes of the Soviet Union and other failed communist states. However, at present there are no role models for the CCP and it will work by a method of trial and error. The three books under review definitely provide readers with more insight into the methods employed by the CCP in order to continue its hold on power. The common theme running through the three books is that there is a need for the CCP to become more open in the days to come. Two prominent sentiments are expressed by the authors. According to Callick, 'After 60 years in power, the CCP's impact on the national culture has been immense. It pervades public space, both physically and virtually' (p. 234). And as expressed by Richard McGregor, 'China has long known something that many in developed countries are only now beginning to grasp, that the CCP and its leaders have never wanted to be the west when they grow up' (p. 273). These three books discuss and debate the CCP from three different perspectives and thus provide readers with a number of new and different perceptions. McGregor looks at the CCP from the view of an organisation which is in power and the efforts and means it uses in order to sustain its position. Rowan Callick discusses the role of the CCP in the day-to-day life of the 'general' people and how the people and the CCP use or exploit each other for their own benefits. The book by William A. Joseph is a collection of articles by various scholars who look at the role the CCP plays in foreign and domestic policies in China. The book also provides a detailed analysis of the development and evolution of the various leaders of the CCP. With China becoming more and more integrated in the world economy, there is a need to understand the party more clearly. The survival of the CCP may become a necessity for the world as well since China is so much at the core of the present-day global economic order. It is in this context that a reading of these books proves to be helpful for scholars and students attempting to grasp the role and impact of the CCP. The books attempt to provide readers with answers to basic questions: What is the CCP? How does it function? And how does it manage to keep itself in power? To understand China and how it functions and even to attempt to understand the future direction China will take, it is essential to understand the functioning of the CCP. A failed China may have ripple impacts as the increasing globalisation and interdependence between the world and China makes the relationship more co-dependent. The stability and survivability of one depends greatly on the other. Thus, the importance of this political behemoth! However, after reading the books one is left with the impression that the CCP is all-powerful and all-pervasive with no scope for any dissent or difference. Only time will tell to what extent such an analysis is true. The books provide timely and in-depth insight into the structure and functioning of the CCP.