Most dramatically,the double impact of the political confrontations during the winter of 1986 - 87 and the spring of 1989 transformed scholars' perceptions of china's political system. The events of 1989,
In particular,led to two seemingly incompatible orientations in the study of china's elite and institutions.
On the one hand, many believed the key issue was no longer the immediate succession to the old guard, A narrow personnel matter , but instead the durability of the regime itself,personalities notwithstanding.
On the other hand, after a decade-long focus in the policy process of reform, many refocused their attention on palace politics in Beijing, closely scrutinizing the elite and viewing institutions as important mainly as personal power bases.
Apart from the flow of events within China, three development in comparative political studies have been relevant to recent trends in research on elites and institutions in the PRC.
First,in the study of comparative Communism the possibilities for reform Communism, a topic pioneered by student of those Eastern European regimes that had attempted to salvage the Communist system by modifying its original Leninist-Stalinist economic and political practices,Until the late 1980s,scholars discussed China's move toward market socialism and political relaxation in these term.
The changing of China's elite and political institution were part and parcel of such a reformed Communist system.
Most dramatically,the double impact of the political confrontations during the winter of 1986 - 87 and the spring of 1989 transformed scholars' perceptions of china's political system. The events of 1989,
In particular,led to two seemingly incompatible orientations in the study of china's elite and institutions.
On the one hand, many believed the key issue was no longer the immediate succession to the old guard, A narrow personnel matter , but instead the durability of the regime itself,personalities notwithstanding.
On the other hand, after a decade-long focus in the policy process of reform, many refocused their attention on palace politics in Beijing, closely scrutinizing the elite and viewing institutions as important mainly as personal power bases.
Apart from the flow of events within China, three development in comparative political studies have been relevant to recent trends in research on elites and institutions in the PRC.
First,in the study of comparative Communism the possibilities for reform Communism, a topic pioneered by student of those Eastern European regimes that had attempted to salvage the Communist system by modifying its original Leninist-Stalinist economic and political practices,Until the late 1980s,scholars discussed China's move toward market socialism and political relaxation in these term.
The changing of China's elite and political institution were part and parcel of such a reformed Communist system.
After 1989,however, the study of reform Communism waned inasmuch as reform had failed to forestall more fundamental revolutionary change in the Soviet bloc.
Comparative political studies instead began to focus on the problem and prospects of the post-Communist transition to democracy.
Students of comparatives and Chinese politics became more interested in whether Dung's ambitious reform programmed was also destined to produce a genuine,unintended,"second revolution " ousting the party-recruited elite and transforming the political system's institution.