Research Article
The Politics of “Weiwen (維穩)” and Its Dilemma in Contemporary China
서강대학교 동아연구소
Published: January 2013 · Vol. 64, No. 0 · pp. 105-143
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33334/sieas.2013.32.1.105
Full Text
Abstract
This paper analyzed the politics of stability (weichi wending, often shortened to weiwen), which has been strengthened throughout the second millennium. The politics of ``weiwen`` showed us the structural limitations of the system difficult to move more fundamental reform in China. Stability is a repeated theme in contemporary ideology. The task of maintaining the stability is performed by monopoly on power in the center and at all levels of local government through a concrete and a dense network. Chinese government thus is seeking a breakthrough to a new model of political stability under a ``Social innovation``. But evaluating recent policy and its enforcement process, ``Social innovation`` means social management by the state rather than by the societies themselves. Namely, it`s not a ``society (autonomous) management`` but that ``social management (of the country)``. Chinese government wants to maintain stability through social management innovation. But it seems not easy to achieve this goal, because it needs to reform the structure of the existing system.
