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CONSTRAINT AND CHOICE: CHINA’S LONG MARCH TO DEMOCRACY by Shaohua Hu submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service o f the American University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations Chair: eng^nao nedman Dr. Hyung^Kook Kim Dr. Nicholas Onuf h v J o i d Dean of the School Oa/vl&'L 1%T~ Date 1997 The American University Washington, D.C. 20016 A ‘>c - A -ICAfJ LNiVERSiTY LIBRARY Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9810889 Copyright 1997 by Hu, Shaoh.ua All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9810889 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © COPYRIGHT by Shaohua Hu 1997 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For my father, the late Jijian Hu and for my mother, Boying Ge Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CONSTRAINT AND CHOICE: CHINA’S LONG MARCH TO DEMOCRACY By Shaohua Hu ABSTRACT China established Asia’s first republic in 19 U, but still fell short of democracy at the end of the twentieth century. This study attempts to explain why China lacks democracy. The central theme is that the Chinese have wanted and needed a strong state to pursue power and wealth since the 1840 Opium War. At first, democracy was thought to facilitate a strong state, but what happened after the 1911 Revolution made the Chinese realize that democracy did not necessarily strengthen, but might weaken the state. To treat democracy not as an end, but as a means characterizes the Chinese attitude toward democracy, and this utilitarian mentality determines that democratization has always been put on the back burner. To support this theme, this study takes a genetic approach. It examines the impacts of historical legacies, local forces, the world system, socialist values, and economic development on the democratization process in pre-1911 era, the Republican one (1912-1927), the Nationalist one (1927-1949), the Maoist one (1949-1976), and the Dengist one (1978-1997), respectively. While the first three factors set constraint on the ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. democratization process, the last two factors represent choices which do not emphasize democracy. All these five factors contribute to China’s lack of democracy. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE This study endeavors to explain why China has failed to achieve democracy in the 20th century. Amid the extensive research on Chinese politics, this study hopes to make its contribution in three ways. It will make a systematic analysis of the whole process, characterize different phases of China’s democratization, and provide a framework of analysis to study democratization. My original interest was in studying economic modernization, as testified by my previous dissertation title Literati and Samurai: The Impact of Chinese and Japanese Elites on Modernization. My limited knowledge of Japan led me nowhere. Anxiety and boredom drove me to make a two-week trip to Taiwan in July 1993, which was sponsored by the China Reunification Alliance. The long separation and mutual hostility across the Taiwan Strait had made Taiwan shrouded in mystery. What impressed me in Taiwan was not prosperity, but democracy. Imperfect as it was, Taiwan’s political system struck me as the first genuine and feasible democracy in Chinese history. During and after the trip, the striking contrast between a democratic Taiwan and an authoritarian mainland raised the question: Why had Taiwan achieved democracy and how long would it take for mainland China to democratize itself? After all, peoples on both sides of the Strait are Chinese, hi many ways, the Taiwanese preserve Chinese traditions better than do mainlanders. This trip shifted my attention from economic modernization to political democratization. iv I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The new topic appeals to me because it was closely related to my life experiences, hi retrospect, two watersheds separate three phases of my life: Mao’s death in 1976 and my arrival in the United States after the Tiananmen Incident in 1989. Bom and raised in a small town in Jiangsu province, I was no stranger to fear, poverty, and ignorance during the Cultural Revolution. It was stability and egalitarianism which made life bearable. Mao’s death opened the opportunity for reform, hi 19791 was fortunate enough to enter the Department of International Politics at Peking University, a hotbed of intellectual and democratic movements in 20th-century China, hi the eye of a political whirlwind, I was surrounded by democratic ideas and movements. If my study at Beijing represents a transition from traditional to modem society, my arrival at the other side of the Pacific symbolized a contact between Eastern and Western civilizations. By living in a foreign country, I am more willing and able to reflect on China: willing because people here expect me to know China well; able because a different environment provides me with a new perspective. The diametrical differences between China and America in politics, economy, culture, society, geography, demography, and history led me to ponder the merits and demerits of the democratic system and its feasibility in China. However, my formal education is tangential to the subject of Chinese democratization. A student of international politics, I did not receive enough training in political theory or Chinese politics. Like the Soviet Union, Communist China dismissed v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. political science as a bourgeois pseudo-science and abolished political science departments in universities. The Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s contributed to the establishment of two Departments of International Politics at Peking University and Fudan University, but political science itself, especially western political theories, got short shrift The program’s focus on international politics diverted attention from Chinese politics. For purely academic and institutional reasons, political theory and Chinese politics fell beyond my education at the School of International Service at the American University. hi writing this dissertation, I faced three difficulties. First, the broad subject of my dissertation taxed my intelligence and knowledge. Not infrequently did I doubt the wisdom of choosing this topic, but I did not give up. Social scientists have to make a choice between broad and narrow subjects: the former tends to err on the side of simplification, but may be compensated by insights; the latter tends to risk being uninspiring, but may enjoy the advantage of being accurate. My academic environment and personal temperament tipped the balance in favor of a broad subject. The dismal future awaiting doctoral students in political science portended that my intellectual life might not start with, but rather culminated in my dissertation, and this led me to take my dissertation perhaps too seriously. My temperament also predisposes me to read and reflect, rather than ferreting out new materials. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. r Self-reflection is often a painful process. On the cognitive