| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Stability preservation (??, weiwen) has been a core policy of the Chinese
communist government for the last two decades. China is the only major
country in the contemporary world to have set up stability preservation
offices at all levels of government alongside the normal administrative
institutions for social control. These offices are mainly staffed by the
existing personnel of the security apparatus, who in turn exercise control
over people and the propaganda apparatus, who exercise control over
information. The consequences of the stability preservation policy and
the "system of stability preservation" (????, weiwen tizhi) are widely
reported in the media, but the academic community is still in the initial
stages of understanding the process of this unique phenomenon in China
(Sandby-Thomas 2011; Shambaugh 2000; Social Development Research
Group 2010; Sun 2009; Yu 2009). Why has the Chinese government
pursued this policy? Is stability preservation in China a conventional
issue of "law and order"? Are the policy and institutions of stability
preservation effective in providing social and political stability? What are
the implications of these special arrangements for China and the Chinese
communist regime in the long run?
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