Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, participated in a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace conference, "The Future of Political Reform in China." Li gave a talk as part of a session on the changing communist party titled "Is the CCP Getting More Institutionalized?"
In his speech Li said, "The U.S. is a democracy; China is not. The U.S. has an institutional mechanism in place to resolve a political crisis or deadlock such as the one that occurred in the 2000 election; but China has not yet developed such a mechanism. The Bush White House has a mandate derived from political legitimacy by the people (although Al Gore might still disagree); whereas the CCP and its leaders, like all other single-party regimes, are vulnerable and uncertain about their legitimacy.
"...Chinese politics is constantly changing, although China has chosen the path of 'evolution' instead of 'revolution' to transform its political system," said Li.
"...The CCP cannot survive indefinitely, partly because societal forces will increasingly become active in the Chinese political process and partly because these institutional developments will lead to further political changes ... If my predictions are correct, we will soon witness a more interesting and dynamic phase of China's political institutionalization," Li added.
