Politics in China Since 1949: Legitimizing Authoritarian Rule by Robert Weatherley

Author:Robert Weatherley [Weatherley, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, History & Theory, Social Science, Political Science, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781134166565
Google: 0Ml8AgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17480119
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

The charismatic legitimacy of Deng Xiaoping

Deng’s emergence as China’s new paramount leader began a process of steady decline for Maoism. Although Deng paid lip-service to the “greatness” of the late Chairman, he quickly distanced himself both from Mao’s turbulent political legacy and from his failed economic policies. Yet, the manner in which Deng secured his succession to Mao showed that he and Mao had at least one thing in common; they were both expert political tacticians. Indeed, in outwitting the luckless Hua Guofeng, Deng employed a degree of cunning and political guile that would have had Mao applauding from his mausoleum. As already discussed, in launching his political comeback Deng shrewdly associated himself with one of Mao’s more pragmatic and credible ideas in the form of Seek Truth from Facts and this put Deng in the dual position of being both a Mao supporter and an advocate of reform and change. Likewise, when Deng’s power base in the party leadership was too weak to launch a direct attack on Hua, Deng used the classic Maoist technique of building a support base outside the central party apparatus in order to put pressure on the centre. Finally, just as Mao had done with the Red Guards in the 1960s, Deng formed a convenient coalition with the Democracy Wall movement only to break this coalition once the movement had served its purpose.

We shall see shortly how the legitimacy of the new Deng regime was based primarily on a performance based platform of economic reform which brought with it the prospect of material incentives and an improvement in personal wealth and living standards. Before we turn to this discussion it is important to identify another key source of Deng’s legitimacy, his charisma. The extent of Deng’s charismatic authority was much more apparent in his relationship with his leadership colleagues (and other party members) than with the masses, mainly because of his determination not to cultivate a cult of Deng. The source of this charisma derived from his unquestionable resilience and strength of character. Using Teiwes’ “crisis” theory, Deng showed that when the odds were stacked against him he would invariably come out fighting. Captured and beaten by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, Deng lived to tell the tale where others (e.g. Liu Shaoqi) had perished. After six years labouring in a tractor factory (albeit only in a part-time capacity), Deng returned to the leadership in 1973 where he managed to hold his own in an intensely hostile political environment. Purged again in 1976 as a right-deviationist, Deng again disappeared from public view but a year later he was back at the centre, plotting the eventual downfall of Hua Guofeng. Deng’s ability to endure the wrath of the Red Guards, the Gang of Four and Mao Zedong and still come out victorious revealed a formidable inner strength and resolve and it was this that marked Deng out amongst his colleagues as a man of exceptional quality.

But like Mao, Deng was also prepared to exploit his charismatic authority to get what he wanted.

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