Chinese Capillary Democracy: Can Western Democracies Learn From China?

| The Diplomat

3/1/16, 11:06 AM

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Chinese Capillary
Democracy: Can Western
Democracies Learn From
China?
Why the Chinese government is by and
for the people.
By Patrik K. Meyer
March 01, 2016
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Dong Fang

When Westerners and Chinese alike are asked

about Chinas political system, they will
respond by labeling it as dictatorial, authoritarian, and undemocratic. Nobody will argue that it is
a model that Western democracies can draw inspiration from. I, however, disagree with this view
and argue that two core characteristics of Chinas political system define it as a capillary
democracy.
First, the Chinese pyramid of authority and power stands on a foundation of elected grassroots
representatives that act as capillaries for a two-way exchange of information between the Chinese
people and their government. Then, the decision-making process of the government is guided by
the information that has been absorbed through this foundation, which results in policies and
measure that improve the livelihoods of the majority of the Chinese people. Therefore, it can be
argued that the Chinese government is by and for the people. I conclude that Western
democracies can draw inspiration from China limiting elections to the grassroots level and using
long-term, professional, and performance-driven teams to govern and lead its people.
Before describing how Chinas capillary democracy works, let us first broadly define what
democracy means. Democracy is one of the words that is familiar to most, but it is often
misunderstood. It comes from Greek and means rule by the people. It is not obvious, however,
which people should rule and when and how they should do so. A more concise definition of a
democratic government is that:
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Chinese Capillary Democracy: Can Western Democracies Learn From China? | The Diplomat

3/1/16, 11:06 AM

in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly
or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held
free elections.
Using this definition of democracy, let us check if Chinas political system is a democracy or not.
The first indication that it is indeed a democracy is that the Chinese peoples interests are the
foundation on which the Chinese government is built. These foundations are made up of two
grassroots organizations where information is exchanged between the people and the
government: the local Communist Party of China (CPC) branch and village/community
committees, with the first playing the leading role and the latter carrying out the actual work.
While the CPC members are appointed, the village/community committees members are
regularly elected by holding free direct elections.
Furthermore, representatives at the township level of the peoples congress are also elected by
direct voting and are responsible for gathering relevant information about the needs and
expectations of the people and sending it all the way to the National Peoples Congress. In
addition, more than three million grassroots organizations and millions of representatives from
hundreds of thousands of villages, towns, and cities keep the central government constantly and
directly connected with its people. Hence, thanks to the elections of grassroots-level officials and
the vast network of CPC and government cadres, it can be argued that the government is fully
informed about most Chinese peoples grievances and expectations. This structure allows
information to flow from the most remote village to the highest levels of the government, and it is
why this work labels the Chinese political system as a capillary democracy.
While being fully informed is a necessary condition for a government to fulfill the expectations
and needs of its people, it is not sufficient. To be a government for the people, it also needs to
have the capacity to make relevant decisions and be accountable to its people, thereby
guaranteeing that it will pursue their interests. The decision-making capacity of the Chinese
government is ensured by the fact that most officials are professionals who have a long-term
commitment to their work in the government. This combined with mainly performance-based
promotions results in a leadership made up of committed, experienced, and skilled individuals
that are capable of confronting the complex challenges posed by running a country. (It took over
40 years of excellent public service for Xi Jinping to reach Chinas presidency.)
Then, it is necessary to show that the CPC, the de facto sole power in China, is a legitimate and
accountable authority. Two concepts can be considered most relevant when it comes to how
authority is gained and lost in China: status and recognition.
The concept of status is hierarchical and fluid, in the sense that the status of an institution
within the authority structure can change based on its performance. Hence, the CPC has to
perform if it wants to preserve its status as the leader. As for recognition, it is also important
because the status or rank of an institution has to be supported by public acknowledgement that
it deserves that rank. The two concepts on which the authority stands are fluid and need to be
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Chinese Capillary Democracy: Can Western Democracies Learn From China? | The Diplomat

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continuously reaffirmed by the good performance of the authority-holding institutions.

Therefore, the CPC not only has to perform, but it has to perform in such a way that the Chinese
people feel satisfied with it. It is in this context that the CPC is seen as a legitimate authority by
the Chinese people because in the last thirty years it has satisfied most of their needs and
expectations.
There are at least two areas from which Western democracies can be inspired by Chinas capillary
democracy. One is from limiting the election process to the grassroots level, where voters and
candidates know each other and the issues at stake are well understood by all. It is the
responsibility of the elected grassroots officials to defend the interests of the people they
represent and to inform the government leadership of their grievances and aspirations. Then, by
having a government formed from individuals who are professional and have a life-long
commitment to the government results in officials who build up invaluable and extensive
experiences and skills. Combining the commitment and skills with a meritocratic promotion
process results in a skillful, experienced, and capable leadership.
It has been shown that the foundations of the Chinese government are democratic, the
government structure is conducive to successfully making complex decisions that benefit the
majority of the Chinese people, and that the CPC is legitimate and accountable to the Chinese
people: i.e., the Chinese government is by and for the people. Hence, Chinas political system can
be considered a democracy, more specifically, a capillary democracy that Western democracies
can learn from.
Patrik K. Meyer is a Foreign Expert at the Department of Arabic language & Literature at
Peking University in Beijing, China.

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