China's Path to Democracy: History, Barriers, and Hope

Defining Democracy and Its Challenges

Any democratic system for governing a group of people, small or large, must maintain the best interests of all the individuals involved. This general criterion must be upheld regardless of whether the specific nature of those best interests can be unanimously agreed upon. Ideally, a democracy allows everyone involved an equal voice and vote regarding every decision that concerns the organization. Robert Dahl identifies the five primary components of the ideal democracy: "1. Effective participation. 2. Equality in voting. 3. Gaining enlightened understanding. 4. Exercising final control over the agenda. 5. Inclusion of adults" (Dahl 38). Essentially, at every step of the decision-making process, each member of the association must have an equal opportunity to voice their opinions, vote, learn about the issues, choose what matters are to be considered, and participate — provided they are of legal age.

These somewhat rigid requirements can be difficult for even small organizations to uphold, and are nearly impossible to satisfy for something as large as a country. The unavoidable deviations from the ideological dream of a democratic state are one of the major barriers preventing nations from adopting this form of government.

China's Historical and Political Background

China is a country with a five-thousand-year-old history and over 1.2 billion people. Its people have dominated the landscape and history of Asia for millennia (Green 90). "China's geography played a central role in the development of its antique civilization. For most of its history China was cut off from other civilizations by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the barren steppes of central Asia to the west, and the mighty Himalaya Mountains to the southwest. The result was that China developed in relative isolation" (Green 6). Because of its unique geographic position, China has rarely risked outright defeat from outside civilizations, and has thus maintained its individuality as a people and as a nation.

At the risk of doing a great injustice to thousands of years of ancient Chinese history, it can be summarized as follows: for the past two millennia, the geographic region we now call China has been fought over by a handful of powerful families and tribes trying to gain the strongest hold on the nation's economy. Dynasty upon dynasty has formed, risen to power, decayed, and been overthrown throughout the course of history. This could, of course, describe any feudal state anywhere in the world, and until very recently China could be categorized as such.

China became modern in a very short amount of time. "From the end of the empire in 1911 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China jumped from a nearly feudal agrarian state to a contender for world power with a furiously modern outlook" (Green 49). This change was sparked by the gradual decline of the Qing dynasty. The eventual incursion of Western powers and the subsequent Opium Wars spelled the end of the feudal order in China and the dawn of a Western-backed government.

Following World War II, the two competing political parties in China — the Nationalists and the Communists — scrambled to gain control of the lands formerly occupied by Japan. A civil war followed, and in 1949 the Communists were victorious. Although the Communists professed a commitment to Marxist ideals of socialism, it soon became clear that they intended to remain in power through military might. "China adopted a Stalinist strategy for economic development.... The Soviet model was regarded as a blueprint for the creation of a socialist economy" (Roberts 225).

The Tiananmen Square Crackdown and Its Implications

This method of rule, however, was less concerned with building a truly socialist state than with self-preservation. At no time in recent history did this become more apparent than during the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Thousands of Chinese college students took to the streets for thirteen days, demonstrating to the world that they wanted a more democratic society. Instead, Deng Xiaoping ordered the participants to be run down by tanks. Harrison Salisbury recounts, "It is a situation pleasing to the army. The military has demonstrated to Deng that without it he cannot retain power. The commanders have demonstrated to themselves that they are more powerful than Deng or the party" (Salisbury 174).

"The violence at Tiananmen Square in 1989 showed the Communist Party's unwillingness to relax political control. Yet, in other arenas, Chinese society is undergoing changes that are sometimes described as a second revolution" (Green 76). China was beginning to open its doors more fully to Western society — its ways of life, values, standards of living, and, most importantly, its economic prospects.

In 1997, President Jiang Zemin attempted to join the World Trade Organization despite vocal objections from the United States. In 1998, President Bill Clinton visited Beijing in an effort to expand trade and to pressure the Chinese government to cease human rights abuses. Yet Zemin defended the government's actions in June 1989. Clearly, "The Communist Party is just as determined to play a greater role in the global economy as it is to hold onto power" (Green 94).

Conclusion

The road to democracy in China is a difficult one — perhaps the most difficult of any nation in the world. It cannot come about through a civil war, or even through outside military force. It must be installed step by step, through economic pressures. Whether China ultimately embraces that path or retreats behind its historical walls remains the defining political question of its future.

Works Cited

Dahl, Robert A. On Democracy. Harrisonburg: Yale University Press, 1998.

Downing, David. Democracy. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2003.

Green, Robert. China: Modern Nations of the World. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999.

Roberts, J.A.G. Modern China: An Illustrated History. Phoenix: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1998.

Salisbury, Harrison E. Tiananmen Diary: Thirteen Days in June. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989.