중국공산당 제19차 당 대회의 쟁점 분석 : 시진핑 권력 강화의 이론과 현실적 제약

Abstract

Despite the general belief that Xi established the “one-man rule system” at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, this study presents a different perspective, and explains limits on Xi’s consolidation of power. Xi has been consolidating power since the 18th Congress. That effort was evident in the 19th Party Congress, including inclusion of Xi’s ideology in the Party constitution. Nevertheless, a key concept -- the ‘New Era’ -- lacks a logic strong enough to allow Xi’s thoughts to serve as a leading ideology. The system of Xi’s thought is more of a means to consolidate power. Furthermore, contrary to the ‘authoritarian power’ exercised by charismatic figures such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, Xi’s power is ‘positional.’ It is not absolute power that exists regardless of position; positional power is “relative” because it is limited by the term period. The party appears to favor maintenance of the system of collective leadership, and there is no indication that the present collective leadership is not operating. Therefore, the current system is characterized by the existence of transitional characteristics: collective leadership and the consolidation of power by Xi coexist. This paper makes no conclusion about whether Xi’s consolidation of power is the result of the party’s collective need to resolve the problem of an ‘absence of a strong leadership’ as a side effect of the collective leadership system, or whether it signifies an ‘excessive power concentration,’ a negative effect of Chinese politics under Mao. If the latter turns out to be true, it can be a premonition of instability in Chinese politics.