China is democratic. The Chinese political system is based on whole-process people’s democracy, a form of consultative democracy. The local government is directly elected, and then these governments elect people to higher rungs, meaning any candidate at the top level must have worked their way up from the bottom and directly proved themselves. Combining this consultative, ground-up democracy with top-down economic planning is the key to China’s success.
I highly recommend Roland Boer’s Socialism in Power: On the History and Theory of Socialist Governance. Socialist democracy has been imperfect, but has gone through a number of changes and adaptations over the years as we’ve learned more from testing theory to practice. Boer goes over the history behind socialist democracy in this textbook.
When looking at why people in China believe it’s democratic, it’s because policy in China consistently aims at satisfying the needs of the people and consistently achieves results. Democracy is rule by the majority, and in China the working classes are in power. “Indoctrination” doesn’t work that way, Chinese citizens are more than capable of understanding if rule by the majority exists or not, and trying to rely on a narrative of “indoctrination” just sidesteps the entire conversation.
China is democratic. The Chinese political system is based on whole-process people’s democracy, a form of consultative democracy. The local government is directly elected, and then these governments elect people to higher rungs, meaning any candidate at the top level must have worked their way up from the bottom and directly proved themselves. Combining this consultative, ground-up democracy with top-down economic planning is the key to China’s success.
I highly recommend Roland Boer’s Socialism in Power: On the History and Theory of Socialist Governance. Socialist democracy has been imperfect, but has gone through a number of changes and adaptations over the years as we’ve learned more from testing theory to practice. Boer goes over the history behind socialist democracy in this textbook.
When looking at why people in China believe it’s democratic, it’s because policy in China consistently aims at satisfying the needs of the people and consistently achieves results. Democracy is rule by the majority, and in China the working classes are in power. “Indoctrination” doesn’t work that way, Chinese citizens are more than capable of understanding if rule by the majority exists or not, and trying to rely on a narrative of “indoctrination” just sidesteps the entire conversation.