Abstract
The role of ideology in Chinese politics has experienced dramatic changes in the past six decades. Mao Zedong had tremendous power over the political institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During the Cultural Revolution, he mobilized the masses against the Party’s institutions in the name of Mao Zedong Thought. Deng Xiaoping significantly downplayed the role of ideology in politics by trying to avoid theoretical debates. Jiang Zemin invented a new thought, “Three Represents,” yet the thought was detached from his name when it was enshrined in the CCP Constitution. Most recently, as a result of the political succession at the Sixteenth National Congress of the CCP, Jiang is no longer the most authoritative interpreter of the thought. Now it is Hu Jintao, new General Secretary of the CCP, who has become the official interpreter of the thought. He offered a new interpretation in his July 1st speech on the “Three Represents” in 2003. It seems that ideology is no longer a personal trademark. It has become an asset of the Party and been institutionalized under Hu Jintao because Hu has become the legitimate interpreter of the Party’s ideology as the General Secretary of the Party.
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He will be the inaugural Joe and Teresa Long Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas in the Spring Semester of 2005. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. He is the author ofChinese Provincial Leaders: Economic Performance and Political Mobility since 1949 (Sharpe, 2002). The author wishes to thank three anonymous referees for their valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this article, Stephine Corso, Nancy Hearst, and Fong Ruey-Jay for their research assistance, and Jessica Loon and Stephine Corso for their editorial assistance.
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Bo, Z. Hu Jintao and the CCP’s ideology: A historical perspective. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 9, 27–45 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02877001
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02877001