The local reassertion of the Communist Party, with Katja Drinhausen and Nis Grünberg

Governing the people and keeping society “harmonious”, stable and united is seen by the CCP leadership as a core task. The party is now systematically inserting itself into all layers and spheres of society. On this episode of the MERICS China Podcast, Johannes Heller-John talks to MERICS Experts Katja Drinhausen, Head of the Politics and Society Program, and Nis Grünberg, Lead Analyst. Together with Alexander Davey they are the authors of the report “Serving the people by controlling them: How the party is reinserting itself into daily life”.

From their observations, the CCP is merging public service and control at the very local level. In their view “this is something that Xi Jinping really has put a lot of effort and resources into it since he came to power: to put the party as an organizing and structuring factor into social organization”.

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