Factionalism in Chinese Communist Politics

Factionalism is widely understood to be a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese politics. In this book, Jing Huang examines the role of factionalism in leadership relations and policy making. His detailed knowledge of intra-Party politics offers a new understanding of still-disputed struggles behind the high walls of leadership in Zhongnanhai. Critiqueing the predominant theories on leadership and decisionmaking, he explains that it is not power struggles that give rise to factionalism, but rather the existence of "factionalism that turns power into an overriding goal in CCP politics."

Jing Huang is Associate Professor of Political Science at Utah State University. He is also a research associate at the John Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University.