State, Party and the Changing Business Environment in China

Currently the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in governing China is in focus. An international conference on this theme was organised by ARC in 2002. The revised contributions have been published in The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies CJAS 16.2002 and in a book publication entitled: Bringing the Party Back in: The Role of the Party in Governing China (Singapore: Far Eastern Universities Press, 2004). A follow-up conference on the Copenhagen conference took place at the National University of Singapore in 2004. The revised papers are published in The Communist Party in Reform (London: Routledge 2006). It is the intention to hold a third conference in 2007 on the theme of "CCP and Regime Transition in China".

The current focus on the CCP stems from a conviction that the role of the party has been overlooked in Western scholarship - causing an inadequate understanding of the Chinese development trajectory. There seems to exist a widespread belief that the CCP is a thing of the past, which has difficulties surviving in a modern globalised world. Yet, the CCP has been able to revitalise itself by strengthening its organisational machine and by reaching out to new social strata, especially a new class of private businessmen. As a consequence of this process one finds a redefined, but nevertheless central role, of the party in the corporate sector in China.

The project has received considerable funding from the Carlsberg Foundation. Other funds stem from Laurids Andersen’s Foundation, FUHU, and the National University of Singapore.The project also benefits from participation by scholars in the "State and Society Network", which is a loosely organised network consisting of 36 scholars from 21 leading universities and research institutions in Europe, Asia and the US, including Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Keio, Yale, Academica Sinica, Australian National University and National University of Singapore. The network is coordinated by ARC.

Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard, ARC, is in charge of the project in cooperation with Dr. Zheng Yongnian, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore and Nothingham University.

Sidst opdateret af Bente Faurby 19.03.2009