halubilo.social
  • Communities
  • Create Post
  • Create Community
  • heart
    Support Lemmy
  • search
    Search
  • Login
  • Sign Up
@[email protected] to [email protected] • 7 months ago

Spot the difference

lemmy.ml

message-square
377
fedilink
340

Spot the difference

lemmy.ml

@[email protected] to [email protected] • 7 months ago
message-square
377
fedilink
  • Cowbee [he/they]
    link
    fedilink
    9•7 months ago

    In what manner is Xi a dictator? The fact that he has been reelected democratically and hasn’t lost to someone else?

    • balderdash
      link
      fedilink
      -8•7 months ago

      I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but you’re missing the point

      • Cowbee [he/they]
        link
        fedilink
        8•7 months ago

        I don’t believe you have a point. Your point rests on the PRC being a dictatorship, which it isn’t.

        • balderdash
          link
          fedilink
          -5•
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          The Communist Party is based in the Leninist principle of “democratic centralism”. This means “debate within the party, unity in action”. It is meant to make the party more powerful by allowing dissent and debates within the party, but when it comes to taking action, all members are expected to follow the consensus even if they disagreed with it.

          Since China’s Congress is primarily members of the Communist Party, this means that the decision of the president ultimately originates in the Communist Party itself. After they reach a consensus, the whole party will vote for that consensus in the Congress. While there technically are smaller parties in China’s Congress, they act more as advisors, since it is not practically possible for them to overturn the vote, since the CPC always votes in unity.

          Formally, China’s president is elected by the Congress. But the decision of who to elect largely comes back to the CPC itself before they come to a consensus. So the final decision largely originates in the Politburo and the Central Committee.

          The president in China is harder to shift on a dime than like in the US. The president is not elected by a nation-wide vote but by the Congress itself. To change who the Congress elects, you have to change the opinions of the largest party in that Congress, you have to change the opinions of the CPC


          Xi is not technically a dictator in the same way that Putin is not technically a dictator. He is in control of a governing body that could replace him on paper, but never will. And he has dictatorial powers without real checks/balances. And, to return to my original point, it may appear that this system is fine if it produces a good result, but the power of the government should come from the will of the people.

          • Dessalines
            link
            fedilink
            11•
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            Baby level understanding of how China’s peoples democracy works, with not a single source.

            • balderdash
              link
              fedilink
              -6•7 months ago

              “Baby level understanding” is not an objection. You have to say something more specific Dessalines.

              • Dessalines
                link
                fedilink
                15•7 months ago

                Sure, I apologize. Here are some entry-level resources into how the PRC’s democracy functions. If you want something more high-level, I can give a few book recommendations, one of which I’m recording lately.

                Is China a Democracy?

                • Is China a democracy?
                • Workplace democracy in action in the CPC.
                • What kind of democracy does China have, and how is it different from the west?
                • In contrast to low US political approval ratings, 96% of Chinese are satisfied with the national government (Edelmans 2016). World Values Surveys says that 83% think the country is run for their benefit rather than for the benefit of special groups. A Harvard research center study of long-term public opinion survey finds that > 95% of Chinese citizens approved their government. How is this possible in a one-party state? (TED talk by Eric X Li)
                • How does China’s political system work?
                • How are Chinese leaders elected / chosen? How meristocratic is the system? How do elections differ from those in western bourgeois democracies?
                • Who runs China? Makeup of the national people’s congress.
                • US policy-makers are misjudging popular support China’s Government.
                • The american dream is alive… in China.
          • Cowbee [he/they]
            link
            fedilink
            11•7 months ago

            You spent several paragraphs correctly outlining why Xi has power, while being subject to recall and democratic checks. The CPC has 96 million members, he isn’t leader of a cabal but of the party of the people, and as a consequence the CPC has over 95% approval rates in peacetime. This is unheard of outside of wartime in the west, you need to understand what you are talking about here.

            I recommend Xi’s writing on democracy from 2021, Democracy is not an Ornament.

          • davel [he/him]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            10•7 months ago

            Putin is “technically not a dictator” in the same way that Biden is “technically not a dictator”: by way of the capitalist class abiding his status as ostensible head of state.

            • [Princeton and Northwestern] Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy
            • “Bourgeois Democracy”: What Do Marxists Mean By This Term?

[email protected]

[email protected]

Subscribe from Remote Instance

Create a post
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
  • 1.12K users / day
  • 4.01K users / week
  • 7.03K users / month
  • 22.1K users / 6 months
  • 51.3K subscribers
  • 14K Posts
  • 293K Comments
  • Modlog
  • mods:
  • ghost_laptop
  • @[email protected]
  • Cyclohexane
  • Arthur Besse
  • BE: 0.19.3
  • Modlog
  • Instances
  • Docs
  • Code
  • join-lemmy.org