Legitimacy and Legitimation, Chinese Style
Friday, February 11th, 2011
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, February 11, 2011 | 2:00PM - 4:00PM | Seminar Room 108N, Munk Centre For International Studies 1 Devonshire Place |
Series
East Asia Seminar Series
Description
The concepts of regime legitimacy and legitimation are simultaneously ambiguous, contested, multi-faceted and dynamic, and they have been used to describe and explain tremendously complex phenomena. Any effective use of the concepts depends on careful definitions and sensitivity to time, context, culture and levels of analysis. Currently Chinese and western discourses on the subjects also exhibit a wide range of conflicting opinions and approaches. Authoritarian (and developing) countries such as China rely on a whole range of modes of legitimation, but the degrees of success are constantly changing, and legitimacy and coercion/suppression often go hand in hand. Moreover, the ritualistic and symbolic aspects of legitimation to mobilize consent cannot be ignored. China is now confronted by the choices amongst the various sources of legitimacy, such as economic growth/social equity, eudaemonic/moral and spiritual claims and stability/dynamism. By referring to the above framework and the impressive and growing new literature on legitimacy, the paper attempts to explore the dynamics and dimensions of legitimacy and legitimation in China today.
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Alfred L. Chan is Professor and Chair at the Department of Political Science, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, Canada. The author of Mao’s Crusade: Politics and Policy Implementation in China’s Great Leap Forward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), Chan has published in journals such as The China Journal, Studies on Contemporary China, and Pacific Affairs. Recent publications include “Power, Policy and Elite Politics under Zhao Ziyang,” The China Quarterly, September, 2010; “Mao: A Super Monster?’ in G. Benton and Lin Chun, eds., Was Mao Really a Monster? (New York: Routledge, 2010); and several edited volumes of Chinese Law and Government. A chapter entitled “Authoritarian Legitimacy and Legitimation in China” will be included in the book Reviving Legitimacy: Lessons for and from China (New York: Routledge, 2011).
Dr. Chan has been an associate with the Asian Institute since 2003.
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