“Fusion of the Party and State”:
The Nomenklatura Cadre Personnel Management in China
Chan Sze Wai (14210568)
Hong Kong Baptist University
In western democracies, party and State are supposed to be two distinctive sets of institutions. Party members can compete certain elective public offices of the State. If they are elected, they can govern the State and issue commands through these offices. However, the party still cannot directly command the State to enforce decisions and policies by itself. It cannot intervene the internal operation of the bureaucracy. The governmental bureaucracy is loyal to the people or their elected representatives, but not to any particular political party.
In China, it is often argued that there is a serious “fusion of the Party and State”, the division of labor between commissions and various State supervision organs is entirely not clear. It is then become a common sense, but how should interpret the nature of this problem. Some literature interpret the problem as “The Communist Party controls the cadres” (Dang guan ganbu) (Shrin, 1996).
One of the essential pillars of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) regime is its control over the cadre personnel management. Completely different from the practice of western democracies, Chinese state officials are not recruited and evaluated under democratic, professional and meritocratic principles. Instead, the device of Nomenklatura is used as the major mechanism and instrument in the CCP management of key officials and administrative personnel, as well as the party and state cadres in administrative organs and institutions. Through Nomenklatura system, the CCP can control the appointment, promotion, evaluation and dismissal of leading personnel.
The Nomenklatura is a system of personnel control commonly adopted in Communist countries (Hill & Frank, 1986), which is arose early in Soviet history. It is the instrument of internal
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