The Changing Role of PLA, Police, and Legal Organs After December 1978
The Transformation of the Global System
1996 Volume 1996 Issue 112 Pages 48-62,L9
Details
1996 Volume 1996 Issue 112 Pages 48-62,L9
This paper analyzes the changing role of PLA (People's Liberation Army), police, legal organs, and other related organizations after the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee held in December 1978.
Some analysts on Chinese affairs observed that de-politicization, professionlization, and institutionalization were the major characteristics of modernization in the military, police and legal fields, which has been promoted by Deng Xiaoping after the Third Plenum of the Eleventh CC. Some radical reformers such as Yan Jiaqi insisted to increase the autonomy of these organizations through separating the communist party from these organizations.
However, The Tiananmen Incident in June 4, 1989 revealed the limitations of de-politicization of these organizations both in theoretical and practical terms. As far as Deng tried to maintain the stable “authoritarian political system” in order to promote the modernaizaion of China, he needed the tight control of the military, police, and other closely related orgazanions through the channel of CPC (Communist Party in China). Thus, Deng again consolidaited the party's contorl over these organizations while he simaltaneouly promoted the professionalization and institutionalization of them. Separation of the two different functions, the maintenance of military security and the maintenance of public security has also been stagnated.
The insitutitionalization had not been fully achieved mainly because Deng wanted to control these organizations, particularly PLA, exclusively by himself, without intervention of other powerful and potentially competitive leaders. The incomplete insitutionalization of the military, police, and legal organizations indicates that China is still on the way from the personal dictatorship towards the authoritarianic polity.
In the dynamic change of China's politics and society, the military, police, and legal organs have difficulty in finding a new role and indentity.
