I. Introduction, Background and Overview Flashcards
Why is the historical perspective necessary?
Historical perspective is necessary because it allows us to view the role of economic history in growth and development.
Knowing Economic history -> growth and development -> LONG TERM process -> throughout the long term process of development, you inherit and enhance INSTITUTIONS + establish foundations (i.e. democratic ideas)
When is the revolution? Who took over? Why is this year relevant?
1949 - Mao
This was the turning point and the change in economic fundamentals that are necessary for growth
When did the Market Economy start? What year?
1978
When is the revolution that was a turning point in China?
1949
Turning points and a change in economic fundamentals that are necessary for growth
Development is a what? Who said?
What is the hidden meaning of development?
Development is a long-term process
Hidden meaning of development = institutions
econ history -> growth and development -> long ter process (pomeranz) -> throughout the long-term process, you inherit institutions ad establish foundations
Historical Examples
How long is the recorded history?
1st dynasty - Year
2nd dynasty - Year
3000 years
Shang Dynasty - 16th Century BC
Qing Dynasty - 1644 to 1911
Monetary History - for studying trade tensions such as trade imbalance
What is the civil service examination system?
From which dynasty?
When was it abolished?
- Provided a competitive exam for merit-based bureaucracy
Bureaucrats are chosen on merit, not by birth rights
“Chosen on merit, not by birth rights” implies that selection or preference is based on an individual’s abilities, qualifications, or achievements rather than their familial or inherited status
- Vehicle for social mobility
● From Sui Dynasty, 600 AD to Qing 1911
● An important institution for social and economic mobility
● Exams was based on knowledge and mastery of classical Confucian classics - From Sui Dynasty (600 AD) to Qing Dynasti (1911)
- Abolished in 1905 — reform was pushed by students
What is an institution?
Who coined the phrase?
Douglass C. North (1993)
Institution are the RULES OF THE GAME IN A SOCIETY
These are HUMANLY DEVISED CONSTRAINTS that STRUCTURE HUMAN INTERACTION such as FORMAL CONSTRAINTS (rules, laws, constitutions) and INFORMAL CONSTRAINTS (norms of behavior, conventions) and SELF-IMPOSED CODE OF CONDUCT and their ENFORCEMENT CHARACTERISTICS
Qin Dynasty + Contributions
Established political institutions and practices
China unified around 221 BC
Eastern Han Dynasty
When, Contributions
250 to 281 BC
Economic foundations of the universal empire
handed down from qin to eastern han
- Household - basic social and fiscal unit (foundation of social relationships, key players in economic activities and financial matters within a society)
- Use of merit ranks to AWARD land property
- Legal tenet of mutual responsibility and shared liability among neighbors
- Strict regulation of commerce and industry
- Population registration – building block for the autocratic state
- Conjugal household (husband and wife, family unit) was the basic unit of production, taxation and social reproduction
- Social stability – geographic and occupational -> All persons who traveled away from their native place – required to carry passports
- Foundations of the development of the smallholder family farm economy: Given the land grant allocations, state land ownership cultivation with cultivation by individual households (growth of small family farms was based on giving land to families, either through land grants or state ownership, and letting each family cultivate their own plot.)
8.1 Fostered social stability by providing each household with a stable economic base and it would increase agricultural productivity
Eastern Han Summarized
Elements in Qin rule, handed down to Han dynasty, 206 BC to 9 AD, became cornerstones of Han imperial governance
The legitimacy of the Emperor was supported by the smallholder family farm system, which served as the foundation for the well-being of the general population.
- Household as the basic and social fiscal unit
- Merit ranks to award land
- Mutual and shared liability and responsibility
- Strict regulation of commerce and industry
- Population registration
- Conjugal household as the basic unit of PTS (production, taxation, social reproduction)
- Social stability geographically (ppl stayed in the same place) and occupationally (stable in jobs) -> requirement of passports for far travels
- Growth of small family farms was based on giving land to families, either through land grants or state ownership, and letting each family cultivate their own plot.
- Social stability - stable economic base due to land allocation and cultivation -> increase agricultural productivity
What are the foundations of the universal empire?
Historical economic institutions became the foundations of the universal empire
What is topography?
Arrangement of NATURAL and ARTIFICIAL physical features of an area
size, location, endowment of natural resources; share in population and output; major urban centers
Give me the 3 main macro regions in China
North
Lower Yangtze
Northeast
What is North known for?
- Most important pre-1978 — largest area and location of capital
- Central region
- Main crop: WHEAT (they don’t eat rice)
- Urban centers: BEIJING and TIANJIN
- Integrated with Southeast and Northeast
- Linked with Southeast by WATER TRANSPORT -> YANGTZE RIVER and the GRAND CANAL
- All foreign invasion passes through North only (always engaged in war because all invaders are from the north)
- North and Southeast (Lower Yangtze)
- Can export because of the Grand Canal that connects NORTH to SOUTH
What is Northeast known for?
- Resource rich: coal and minerals
- Manchuria
- Base of HEAVY INDUSTRIES
- Planned Economy
- Was integrated with the rest of the Economy
What is Lower Yangtze known for?
- Food-grain surplus region
- Exports to the NORTH (because they eat wheat)
- MOST DEVELOPED historically
- Main crop: rice
- Diversified agriculture
- 2 subregions: inward (Fujian) & outward/maritime (Guangdong)
- Food-grain surpluses of Lower yangtze was shipped to the North
What to North, Southeast, and Northeast have in common?
Macroregions that are integrated in pre-modern economy
What are the bodies of water that connects the regions? Which specific regions?
- WATER TRANSPORT - Both Grand Canal and Yangtze River
Connects North and Southeast
Lower Yangtze river and the Grand Canal linked North and Southeast China
- YANGTZE RIVER - Upper, Middle, Lower Yangtze that runs across West to East
- GRAND CANAL - South to North
7 Macro Regions in China + Notable things
- North China - Beijing, central
- Northeast China - Manchuria
- Upper Yangtze - Sichuan (West), unique geography
- Middle Yangtze - Monoculture, Grain Surplus region, SOUTHWEST REGION, low income
- Lower Yangtze - low-income, most developed, main crop: rice, food surplus region
- Southeast - Lower Yangtze (dulo ng Yangtze na nag-sstart sa West), Shanghai
- Southwest - Middle Yangtze (West- Upper Yangtze)
When was the pre-modern traditional economy
1127-1911
3 main points from the pre-modern traditional economy (1127-1911)
- High productivity traditional agriculture
- Commercialized countryside
- Highly developed system of water transport
What did commercialized countryside support? (2)
- Sophisticated institutions
- Competitive markets
- Small scale bottom heavy household-based economy
1 of pre-modern trad economy characteristics
HIGH-PRODUCTIVITY TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE
- high yields per unit of land, low productivity per worker (DMU)
- agricultural technology (seed varieties, organic fertilizer, early-ripening rice)
- farms/agricultural lands were irrigated: farmers can harvest TWICE ayear -> output DOUBLED
- Lower Yangtze (Southeast) -> Grain surplus region
2 of pre-modern trad economy characteristics
COMMERCIALIZED COUNTRYSIDE
dense population - thick network of markets (shanghai, etc.)
Supported the following:
- Sophisticated Institutions
- money/traditional banks, formal organizations, legal and customary institutions
- define institution - Competitive Markets
- numerous suppliers, free entry and exit (no barriers to entry), factor markets, social migration allowed - Small-scale “bottom-heavy” household-based economy
- rural households farmed , manufactured handicrafts, sold their own output
- majority of economic activity are concentrated at the lower or grassroots level, such as individual households or small businesses, rather than being centralized or dominated by larger institutions or corporations.
- CONJUGAL HOUSEHOLD WAS THE BASIC UNIT OF PRODUCTION, TAXATION, & SOCIAL REPRODUCTION - High Level of Equilibrium
- China being the world’s largest economy
- well-off regions in the global context
3 of pre-modern trad economy characteristics
HIGHLY DEVELOPED SYSTEM OF WATER TRANSPORT
North and Southeast - connected by Lower Yangtze and Grand Canal
Surplus food from lower Yangtze
river is transported to food-deficit
North
North region – historically vulnerable
to foreign invasion
Gimme Grand Canal details
construction started during Sui Dynasty - 590 to 618 AD
Man-made government-led infrastructure
Connected North to South
one of the main reasons for commercialized countrysides -> supported by water transport -> maximized surplus in grains by delivering to food-deficit north that is VULNERABLE to FOREIGN-INVASION
Other Historical Background
Beginning of Modernization: 1912 to 1937
War and Civil War: 1937 to 1949
6 characteristics that are unique to China’s political systems
- China operates under TWO CONSTITUTIONS (party constitution and state constitution)
- Party constitution: Charter
- State constitution: HIGHEST, separate constitution that governs the communist party, real consti - Party-state: CCP as the DOMINANT party
- the party is the state, the state is the party
- CCP: DOMINANT
- ccp controls government, government follows ccp - Bureaucratic-authoritarian (not dictatorial)
- group of bureaucrats holds power, rather than just one leader. They often control the government strictly, even though there isn’t a single dictator. - No separation of powers
- hierarchy - Party exercises military power
- dominant party: ccp
- army exists for the party, not for the state - Formally centralized, highly decentralized in practice
Define again what an institution is
Rules of the game in society
Humanly devised constraints that structure human interaction such as formal constraints (rules, laws, and constitutions) and informal constraints (norms of behavior and conventions) and self imposed code of conduct and their enforcement characteristics
China’s Main Political Institutions (5)
- CCP –Chinese Communist Party
- NPC– National People’s Congress
(Legislative) - CPPCC – Chinese People’s Political
Consultative Conference (advisory / broad based representative organization of the united front) - State Council – the Government (Executive / ADMINISTRATIVE)
- Central Military Commission
(CMC)
Give me the main political institutions
- CCP (Party)
- NPC (People’s Congress)
- State Council
- CMC
Nde kasama advisory council (CPPCC)
Structure Institutions
of National-Level Political
1982 State Constitution, amended in 2018
- all power is in the constitution (any info abt the CCP)
- NPC – Legislative
- State Council - Administrative
- CPPCC – advisory, broad based representative organization of the
united front - National Supervisory Commission – Supervisory
- Supreme Court – judicial (adjudicatory)
- Supreme People’s Procuratorate (prosecutorial)
- Party CMC – highest authority on unified armed forces
- National Supervisory Commission – created in March 2018
* co-equal with the State Council and the judiciary
* Role of NSC - anti-corruption
* Overall effect – increases the Party’s power relative to the State
CCP Structure
- 95 million members as of June 221
- competitive, ELECT 2,200 people
- may list na - Party Congress: 2296 delegates
- give a list: elect 200+ members, 170 alternates - Central Committee: 204 members, 167 alternates
- 200 people elect 25 members - Political Bureau: 20-25 members (7 Standing Committee Members, 18 regular members)
- 25 members elect 7 - Standing Committee of the Politburo: 7-9 members
- 7 members elect 1 general secretary - General Secretary (PRESIDENT of China)
CCP (party congress) process of election
- meets once every 5 years
- Communist party members elect 2,296 members for the NPC
- 2,296 NPC delegates elect 204 + 167 members for the Central Committee
- 204 + 167 Central Committee elect 25 mems of Politburo (State Council)
- 25-member Politburo elects the 7-member Standing Committee (SC)
- General Secretary (1) is drawn from the 7-member Standing Committee
CCP structure
Politburo members: establish institution (lend a sense of stability by establishing rules and institutions)
Emerging norms in CCP
Term: two 5-year terms
Age: 68 at the end of second 5-year term. Must not be more than 68 at the end of your 5-year term
Successor: Incumbent General Secretary appoints at the start of second term
Successor has to be
chosen by the 1 general secretary
SC of the Politburo
Talks about the STANDING COMMITTEE
- meets every 5 years
- MOST SENIOR, ruling elite
- gen sec is the highest and most senior member of the politburo
- always formed after NPC and CPCC
- CCP -> NPC & CPPCC -> SC
NPC Structure
- 35 electoral units elect 2980 for NPC Legislature (every 5 years) - list of candidates are drawn by the Party
- 2980 NPC Unicameral Legislature elects 175 SC (standing committee) members
- 174 SC elect 15 NPC Council of Chairpersons (including General Secretary)
Caveats of NPC
Once a member of the SC of NPC, NOT ALLOWED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE STATE COUNCIL
separation of power from the government and the state legislative branch
However, can hold concurrent position in CCP
State Council Structure (ex
- President - SC (highest administrative organ)
- VP - highest ranking member
- Premier - Officials appointed. can be removed by npc and npcsc
- Vice-premiers (4) - FOUR president/vp ceremonial roles
- state councilors (5)
- Secretary General
What do State Councilors in the State Council do?
formulate administrative regulations and drafts most legislative bills that come before the NPC and NPCSC.
CMC Structure
- Party and State CMC have IDENTICAL Members
- unified command over Armed Forces
- CCP appoints Party CMC
- Chairman (non-military) -> chair of CMC is the General Secretary of CCP
- Vice Chairman (2)
- Members (4)
vice-chairman and members are military officers
State CMC vs Party CMC
Party Central Military Commission (Party CMC)
- military organ of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
- responsible for implementing the party’s directives within the military and ensuring the military remains loyal to the party’s leadership.
- headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, who is also the President of China.
See Characteristic #5: Party exercises military power where army exists for the party, not for the state (dominant party: ccp)
State Central Military Commission (State CMC)
- highest military organ of the state
- responsible for carrying out military affairs and policies as mandated by the state
- formally headed by the President of China.
China’s Armed Forces
- Army
- Navy
- Air Force
- Rocket Force
- Strategic Support Force
- Armed Police Force
- Reserve Force
- Southern, Western, Northern and Central Theatre Command
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
PLA is the armed forces of the People’s Republic of China
consists of 2.25 million persons
4 divisions: army, navy, air force, rocket force + strategic & joint logistics support force.
PLA was preceded by the
Red Army during Civil War
Mao - leader
Power consolidation of the 4 main institutions
- CCP (Party) - SECRETARY GENERAL
- NPC (People’s Congress) - PRESIDENT
- State Council - PREMIER
- CMC - CHAIRMAN of party cmc
- CCP can hold ALL 3 POSITIONS
- Standing Committee, Politburo, and Central Committee members of CCP CAN HOLD CONCURRENT POSITIONS IN EITHER THE STATE COUNCIL, LEGISLATURE (NPC), and/or CMC
- However, if you are an NPC member, you can’t hold any government position in the Stae Council
Characteristic of political institution (#4)
- VERTICALLY INTEGRATED AND INTERLOCKING
- Similar Structures and Hierarchy
- Politburo SC members hold highest most senior positions in other political institutions
What is the caveat of NPC again
- can’t be a member of the state council but can be a member of the CCP
- all 14 chairs cannot be in the State Council (legislative) but they CAN be in CCP
Difference between administrative and provincial regions
Administrative
- encompass various divisions like provinces, regions, or districts, while
provinces
- specifically refer to larger territorial divisions with their own government structures and higher autonomy.
Provincial rank – if a province has a
provincial rank, provincial governments can pass their own laws and regulation; control their own taxes/revenues stream and public expenditures
This feature is a further qualification
characteristic system: centralized,
decentralized in practice
Administrative Units and Political Institutions
All administrative units have
similar political institutions
- NATIONAL LEVEL
Party: CCP Central Committee
Legislature: National People’s
Congress
Government: State Council; Central
People’s Government
Consultative Body: CPPCC
- PROVINCIAL LEVEL
34 administrative units
23 provinces (including taiwan)
4 municipalities (under central govt., beijing, shanghai, tianjin, chongqing)
5 autonomous regions for ethnic minorities (guangxi, mongolia, ningxia, xinjiang, tibet)
2 special autonomous regions (hongkong, macau)
- PREFECTURAL LEVEL
318 administrative units
- COUNTY
2,844 administrative units
- TOWNSHIP LEVEL
39,000 administrative units
- VILLAGE-LEVEL - no info
final takeaway for political institutions
Most important: parallel integration of power
- 5 characteristics mentioned
- All those qualities define a
political state
You have all these structures
where the party is separate from the state but they are vertically and simultaneously integrated: core of the power structure
