China's state-society relations : relevance of China's official ideology in the post-deng era.

Strong economic development and the state ideology are inadequate to maintain oneparty rule in China. There is a need for pressing political reforms to meet the needs of the masses which are linked to overall system legitimacy in the modem world. This research will examine how the official ideology functions in Chinese politics today and find out the weakness of basing political legitimacy on economic development and state ideology. It will trace the role of the state ideology and how it has evolved since the beginning of the 21st century and offer suggestions on how the Party can reform itself in line with globalization. The radical intra-party democracy system which this study is suggesting can offer an alternative view to other scholars in the field. It could serve to replace performance legitimacy with popular legitimacy which is more relevant to China today. Ideology is only as effective as the policies are. CCP continues to assert oneparty rule and justifies this system through its constant adaptation and changes made to its official ideology. In this study, the effectiveness of the official ideology, and its function, will be discussed by considering the following factors: the importance of ideology; use of ideology to enhance political position of the core figure of the Party; regime legitimacy enhanced by ideology; policies launched under the ideological umbrella; weakness of the official ideology, and the current self-serving and elitist image of CCP.Master of Science (Asian Studies