China's Communist Party: Democracy Now?

ONE MAN. ONE VOTE?

Chinese democracy under the Communist Party has a fascinating history that is little known in the West. The Cultural Revolution, for example, was an attempt to implement direct democracy...in a recklessly revolutionary manner.
More recently, the Party has been implemeting democratic reforms at all levels in keeping with their stated intention of bringing China to full democracy faster than the USA did–which was 190 years (if we ignore the still-critical Electoral College).

Chinese people today enjoy greater democractic particiaption than ever in their 3,000 year history. The article below, from China Daily, reflects the next step in a 10-year process of involving more people–82,000,000 Party members–in electing China's supreme governing body. Note the sting in the last paragraph: Party members are still resisting disclosing their personal assets, though this proposal was introduced 5 years ago.

For a really wonderful debate about democracy in China, watch this

Official Vows to Promote 
Greater Party Democracy

"The transparency of the Party has improved, but in a gradual manner. Obligations of Party officials, such as releasing their personal assets, need stricter enforcement".

(China Daily: 8/15/2012) Competitive elections and tenure system will help push ‘crucial task’
A senior official of the Communist Party of China pledged on Tuesday to carry out greater intra-Party democracy, a task experts said is crucial. The pledge came as the 91-year-old Party elected 2,270 delegates to attend a national congress later this year.
The elections, held from October to July, have seen an unprecedented choice, with every 100 delegates elected from a field of more than 115 candidates.

This represents a bigger choice than the 2002 and 2007 congresses.
The elected delegates will represent more than 82 million CPC members to attend the Party’s 18th National Congress.
They will vote in a once-in-five-year leadership election of the CPC Central Committee and its Political Bureau Standing Committee.
They will also review reports delivered by the CPC Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC.
Wang Jingqing, deputy head of the CPC Organization Department, said members of the CPC Central Committee, a high-level ruling body of the Party, will also be elected with a wide pool, but the exact figure has yet to be decided.
Wang, speaking at one of the first news conferences concerning the congress, said on Tuesday that intra-Party democracy is the lifeline of the Party and should be steadily encouraged across the board.
Wang said he foresees growing endorsement of the rights of Party members, among other steps, on the road to greater intra-Party democracy.
Referring to elections offering greater choice, Wang said the CPC has also, for the first time, used the multi-candidate method when working out preliminary lists of candidates for elections.
Some local Party committees have, for the first time, released the names of delegates on newspapers and TV programs to encourage more Party members to participate and offer feedback for the election.
Wang said future efforts will include increasing the number of grassroots delegates to attend the Party congress.
"In addition, a better enforcement of the right to know as well as the right of participation, decision and supervision are also essential in reinforcing the dominant power of the Party members," he said.
Wang admitted that meeting the goal requires a modification of the Party congress system, which primarily involves better implementation of the tenure system of delegates.
Under the system, delegates will be empowered to supervise Party organizations and leading officials, to recommend, elect and assess Party officials, said Lin Zhe, professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. They can also put forward proposals for dismissing Party officials, among many other rights, throughout their tenure.
The system was designed for delegates to better supervise Party officials even when the congress was not convened.

Western Democracy

Everyone knows that a relatively small number of wealthy people donate the lion’s share of money to political campaigns.  But, you probably never suspected just how small that group actually is.

 

Thanks to the amazing Sunlight Foundation, we now know that just 31,385 people — one tenth of one percent of the overall U.S. population — are responsible for nearly 30 percent of the $6 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) contributed to federal campaigns and committees in the 2012 election.

 

The 31,385 people who qualify as the one percent of the one percent of political donors wouldn’t even come close to filling a football stadium. 84 percent of those elected in 2012 took more money from these 1% of the 1% donors than they did from all of their small donors combined.

 

The full Sunlight report is fascinating and chock full of great charts that illustrate the one percent of the one percent. Check it out.