A response to Francis Fukuyama’s ‘reflections on Chinese governance’

Governance in contemporary China presents external analysts with a number of challenges, the most significant of which is how to use general political science models to adequately conceptualize the Communist Party of China—a hybrid force that aims to cover all possible political territory in the People’s Republic and perform a function which is more extensive and yet more abstract than political parties in liberal democratic systems. Using the three areas of government modernization referred to by Francis Fukuyama—the state, rule of law and accountability—this essay looks at the ways in which the Communist Party has engaged in a progress of partial reform, tactically conceding space for other actors in some areas, while maintaining control of the core issue for control—political organization and the articulation of broad overarching goals for Chinese society, and how it has attempted to do something unique—create a modern, developed, market economy while still being governed by a Communist Party exercising a monopoly on power.