Lance Gore

Followers

Following

Public Views

Lance Gore is Senior Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. His research interests span a wide range of topics on China and East Asia. He has done research and published on Chinese environmental politics (the “Green GDP” experiment), the reforms in China’s steel industry, energy sector, patterns of entrepreneurship in mainland China, the economic bureaucracies of China, cadre performance evaluation, local state economic behaviour, the Chinese Communist Party, industrial relations, elite politics and the People’s Liberation Army. He taught for many years at Bowdoin College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in the United States. He is the single author of three monographs: Chinese Communist Party and China’s Capitalist Revolution: the Political Impact of Market (Routledge)

less

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Lance Gore

The Party in the new social spaces

The Chinese Communist Party and China's Capitalist Revolution, 2010

Forging a Sino–Russo Alliance: Analysis with a Hybrid Theoretical Framework

China: An International Journal, 2017

China and Russia belong to different civilisations that preclude a stable alliance. However, the ... more China and Russia belong to different civilisations that preclude a stable alliance. However, the two countries share views on many major international issues and are in a viable position to push for an alternative international order. This article employs a hybrid model to examine the dynamics in the Sino–Russo relations, taking factors such as external pressure, national identity, culture and history, overall national strategy as well as balance of power into account.

The Chinese Communist Party in Action

Managing human resources to sustain the one-party rule

The Chinese Communist Party in Action, 2019

The Communist Party-Dominated Governance Model of China: Legitimacy, Accountability, and Meritocracy

Polity, 2019

As the single ruling party, the Communist Party plays an essential role in public administration ... more As the single ruling party, the Communist Party plays an essential role in public administration and policy making in China. Under general secretary Xi Jinping’s program of “modernizing the governance system and governing capability” of the party since November 2013, administrative power is migrating from the government to the party. The party bureaucracy is interlaced with the state bureaucracy to produce a rare model of governance, which in turn has created many conceptual and theoretical issues for the study of good governance. This article analyzes China’s party-dominated governance model. Key issues of legitimacy, accountability, and meritocracy are discussed in an effort to delineate the advantages and problems of this model, analyze how it helps to shape the Chinese polity, and shed some light on good governance in general.

The Chinese Communist Party and China's capitalist revolution: the political impact of the market

Choice Reviews Online, 2011

... The Chinese Party-State in the Twenty-first Century Adaptation and the reinvention of legitim... more

Merit-Based Patronage: Career Incentives of Local Leading Cadres in China

Journal of Contemporary China, 2017

ABSTRACT This study tries to determine to what extent the Chinese bureaucracy is merit-based. By ... more ABSTRACT This study tries to determine to what extent the Chinese bureaucracy is merit-based. By triangulating quantitative and qualitative survey data from a sample of Chinese cadres (n=286), the authors aim to answer the research question: ‘What is the behavioral impact of the incentive structure the cadre management system helps to shape, and does the incentive matrix support a meritocratic work environment?’. The findings demonstrate that the promotion of local leading cadres is primarily based on their superiors’ recognition and appreciation. A principal-component analysis reveals that what impresses the superiors includes both patronage and merit factors, although patronage has a slight edge over merit. This study also suggests that good interpersonal skills are essential for both merit- and patronage-oriented career advancement.

Understanding Chinese Meritocracy

East Asian Policy, 2016

Many have problem reconciling China’s corruption-infested system with meritocracy. The survey stu... more Many have problem reconciling China’s corruption-infested system with meritocracy. The survey study reported here indicates that Chinese cadres are eager to impress their superior, but what impresses the superior is increasingly along the line of competence and achievement. Even corrupt officials have to deliver and be competent, the bottom line that sets limits to patronage. The system may not always favour the most competent but it is geared towards performance.

Rebuilding the Leninist Party Rule: Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping's Stewardship

East Asian Policy, 2016

In 2015, Xi Jinping tried to restore many Leninist features to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).... more In 2015, Xi Jinping tried to restore many Leninist features to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He took measures to rebuild the ideological faith, entrench Party organisations with state administration and run the CCP as a meritocracy. “Party groups” (dangzu) are extended to non-governmental, non-profit and other societal organisations. He insisted that party members must observe both formal disciplines and informal norms of the Party, and show loyalty to the leadership.

What is Xi Jinping Made of: Xi in His Own Words

East Asian Policy, 2015

Despite the many changes that Xi Jinping has brought to China’s foreign and domestic policies in ... more Despite the many changes that Xi Jinping has brought to China’s foreign and domestic policies in less than three years, the president himself remains a mystery. Many of his policies as well as his character and personal style can be discerned from his early writings when he was a local Party chief. Xi is neither a conservative ideologue that people in the West dread, nor a liberal reformer that many hoped for.

Between the Giants in Pursuit of Asian Prosperity: Dilemmas of Australia's National Security Strategy

Australia's Trade, Investment and Security in the Asian Century, 2015

Australia's geostrategic advantage is increasingly compromised by its need to catch the fast-... more Australia's geostrategic advantage is increasingly compromised by its need to catch the fast-sailing Asian economic ships. Comprehensive ties with nations in the Asia-Pacific are also reshaping its national identity, as well as its perceptions of what constitutes the national interest. How to handle the military rise of China that will inevitably alter the security order of the region, while its economy is so tied up with the rising giant, poses a serious and inescapable challenge. This chapter examines Australia's current defence posture and strategic traditions in the context of China's growing power projection, the Asian pivot of the US, and the role of Japan and the rise of multiple Asian middle powers, in order to shed light on some ‘middle-of-the-road’ options for Australia…

The Social Transformation of the Chinese Communist Party: Prospects for Authoritarian Accommodation

Problems of Post-Communism, 2015

Market-driven socioeconomic change in the past decades has transformed the social composition and... more Market-driven socioeconomic change in the past decades has transformed the social composition and the class base of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It has also eroded the institutional foundation of the CCP’s grassroots organizations and redefined the relationship between party members and the Party. While the structure of a Leninist party remains, the nature the Party and the way it exercise power are undergoing fundamental change. The new dynamic in party-society relations and the rise of status-quo interests within the Party dictate that authoritarian accommodation is the default path of the CCP’s evolution, not imminent regime collapse or democratic transition.

The Politics of Human Rights: Stability First, Development Second, and Everything Else Can Wait

China's Politics and Society, 2001

The Genesis of the Post-Mao Market Economy

Chinese Politics Illustrated, 2014

Xi Jinping Overhauls the People’s Liberation Army

East Asian Policy, 2016

The overhaul of the People’s Liberation Army will move it away from its Soviet-style command and ... more The overhaul of the People’s Liberation Army will move it away from its Soviet-style command and control structures towards the American model, which is believed to be more adapted to the new security environment and facilitates long distance power projection to protect China’s far-flung national interest abroad. The Communist Party’s organisational presence is reaffirmed to ensure the loyalty of the military as the Party considers it the ultimate source of its power and final defence of its rule.

Download

Revamping the Chinese Communist Party

East Asian Policy, 2015

The 2014 Party reform aimed to modernise the CCP. The Politburo passed the “Action Plan for Deepe... more The 2014 Party reform aimed to modernise the CCP. The Politburo passed the “Action Plan for Deepening Party-building Institutional Reforms”, outlining 26 concrete reforms in four key areas to be completed by 2017. Notable departures include the re-emphasis on ideological unity, the rollback on intra-party democracy, the renewed emphasis on intra-party legislation and the control on the growth of the Party's size. However there are inherent dilemmas in building a Leninist party in a globalised market economy.