ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Skrifter Utgivna Av Statsvetenskapliga Föreningen I Uppsala 188

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Skrifter utgivna av Statsvetenskapliga föreningen i Uppsala 188 Governing the Military Professional Autonomy in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Sofia K. Ledberg Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Brusewitzsalen, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Gamla Torget 6, Uppsala, Friday, 11 April 2014 at 13:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in Swedish. Faculty examiner: Carl Dahlström (Göteborgs universitet). Abstract Ledberg, S. 2014. Governing the Military. Professional Autonomy in the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Skrifter utgivna av Statsvetenskapliga föreningen i Uppsala 188. xiv+246 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-8880-2. The reform process that has been underway in China the past 30 years has affected most parts of Chinese society. In regard to core branches of the civilian state administration, public administration research provides evidence of far-reaching decentralization, marketization, and a relaxation of direct political control within many policy areas. Despite the fact that the military in any Marxist-Leninist state is an indispensable part of the state administration, it is rarely included in research on the Chinese state administrations. In this dissertation, it is ar- gued that the military is intrinsically linked to the overall political stability of the Chinese state not only because it constitutes one of the most central branches of the Chinese cadre administration, but also given its close connection to the ruling communist party. Hence it deserves greater research focus. The overarching focus of this study is political control and governance vis-à-vis the Chinese military. Contrary to previous studies that have approached the issue of control by investigat- ing military infringement on civilian policy making, the analysis here illustrates that the struc- tures and the underlying logic of control are better captured by a study of the professional autonomy of the Chinese military officer corps. Professional autonomy is investigated within the military education system, given that education is a central undertaking for any profession. By suggesting a new approach to the study of the relationship between the political entities of the state and the military, an approach which makes use of insights from both the political science subfield of public administration and the sociology of professions, this dissertation makes important theoretical and analytical contributions to the field of civil-military relations. Yet the usefulness of the actor-centered approach put forward here, which focuses on the autonomy of the profession within the organization, is not limited to studies of the military but can be used in any analysis of power relations between the political entities of the state and its administrations. This dissertation also contributes to increase the understanding of Chinese military education, which is one of the military’s most important peace time undertakings. Keywords: professionalism, political control, civil-military relations, public administration, China, cadre administration, People's Liberation Army, Chinese Communist Party, professional autonomy Sofia Ledberg, Department of Government, Box 514, Uppsala University, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. © Sofia Ledberg 2014 ISSN 0346-7538 ISBN 978-91-554-8880-2 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-218667 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-218667) Printed by Elanders Sverige AB, 2014 Für Sven Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ xi 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 State and military: two sides of the same coin....................................... 4 Reforms of the Chinese state administration ......................................... 5 The study of the military within political science .................................... 13 Studies on the military in China .......................................................... 15 Analytic approach and research question of the study ............................. 17 Case selection, research approach and methodology ........................... 22 Contributions of the study ................................................................... 23 The outline of this thesis ...................................................................... 25 2. Research on the military in political science ............................................ 28 The study of civil-military relations ......................................................... 28 Civil-military relations theory .................................................................. 31 Subjective and objective civilian control ............................................. 32 Profession and professionalism according to Huntington ................... 33 Civil-military relations theory: a critique ............................................ 35 Studies on civil-military relations in China .............................................. 37 PLA studies: my main points of criticism ........................................... 43 The study of military autonomy .......................................................... 47 3. The study of professional autonomy ......................................................... 50 The study of the military as an administration ......................................... 51 Autonomy in the relations between state and administration .............. 52 Professions and power ......................................................................... 55 Defining profession and professional autonomy ................................. 58 How to study professional autonomy? ..................................................... 60 The profession in focus in this study ................................................... 61 Where to study professional autonomy? .............................................. 64 The analytic starting point ................................................................... 65 4. Research methodology and fieldwork strategies ...................................... 70 The case: military education and research................................................ 72 Conducting fieldwork on the Chinese military ........................................ 76 Before the interview: planning and organizing.................................... 77 Introducing the respondents ................................................................. 79 Conducting interviews and interpretation of data ................................ 83 Additional sources of data ........................................................................ 88 A criticism of the sources ......................................................................... 90 5. The military and the cadre organization ................................................... 93 Administration in the socialist people’s republics.................................... 95 Ideological underpinnings of the cadre administration ........................ 96 Structural and ideological CCP-PLA interconnectedness ................... 99 6. Organization and execution of teaching and research............................. 113 Central level planning of teaching .......................................................... 114 School level planning of teaching .......................................................... 117 The role of the profession in the organizing of teaching ................... 122 Comparison of teaching undertakings: the role of the profession ..... 128 Organization of research ........................................................................ 132 The role of the profession in PLA research ....................................... 138 Professional autonomy in the organization of work ............................... 139 7. Quality control and evaluation ................................................................ 142 Quality control: evaluation of teaching .................................................. 143 Teaching quality assessment: how, by whom, and what? ................. 147 Quality control: research ........................................................................ 149 The admission of new students .......................................................... 150 Deciding research focus in thesis work ............................................. 153 Evaluation of research ....................................................................... 154 Research quality assessment: how, by whom and what? ................... 157 Staff evaluation ...................................................................................... 160 The evaluation process ...................................................................... 162 Staff quality assessment: how, by whom and what? ......................... 167 Professional autonomy in quality control and evaluation ...................... 169 8. Promotion ................................................................................................ 171 Promotion processes in the Chinese PLA .............................................. 172 Chinese officer categories and other members of staff ...................... 172 Promotion to higher military ranks .................................................... 179 Promotion to higher posts or grade positions .................................... 182 Promotion to higher professional positions ......................................

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