Contemporary Chinese political communication

Author: Xie Yue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This book is part of the "Series on Politics and Public Affairs." The author interprets the political development of contemporary China from the perspective of political communication, making it the first comprehensive academic monograph in China dedicated to the study of political communication. In the author's view, political communication occurs due to four fundamental driving forces: public opinion, parties, bureaucracy, and groups. The basic functions of political communication include decision-making, implementation, control, coordination, constraint, persuasion, pre-setting, and development. After elaborating on the basic principles of political communication, the author further analyzes the channel issues of political communication. The author considers the electoral system to be a formal channel of political communication, and its significance lies in: through this channel, a two-way communication relationship can be established between voters and candidates, and the legitimacy of political rule can be achieved. In contemporary China, the electoral system has the characteristics of leadership, mobilization, consultation, and interaction. As an important function of the meeting system as a political communication channel, it includes decision-making, implementation, mobilization, consultation, and symbolism. Mass media serve as another political communication channel, with functions mainly including pre-setting, supervision, implementation, mobilization, and penetration. Finally, the author points out that the petition system, as a political communication channel, is a political institution where symbolism outweighs substance. It is embedded within China's political system, and its communication characteristics and functions depend on this political environment. In terms of political participation functions, due to the lack of specialized institutions for interest expression among petitioners and low interest aggregation functions, most petition actions are ineffective, ultimately leading to the failure of institutionalized political participation as a form of participation. The author analyzes the basis of political communication in contemporary China, and in explaining the issues, he has collected some important cases, making the material in this book relatively rich and the arguments compelling. Renowned political science scholar Wang Bangzuo wrote the preface for this book, affirming its value while also pointing out its shortcomings; Hu Wei, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Professor of Political Science and Public Administration, wrote the preface for the recommendation.