The Lives and Roles of Cadres in the Chinese Communist Party

The Chinese political system includes several million full-time professional staff often referred to as ‘cadres’. Who are these local administrators, and how important are they for the Chinese Communist Party’s developmental policies? How will it influence an individual to become a CCP cadre? In this seminar, we will examine cadres’ roles from the perspective of two case studies, one focusing on environmental policies and the other with a focus on gender.

Julia Marinaccio’s book Linking Theory with Practice? Cadre Training and Environmental Governance in China point to cadre training as a critical instrument to steer local political action and expedite a change of values at the party-state level. The book unpicks the complex and multi-layered structures of China’s cadre training system, and offers a new perspective on its function within China’s political system.

Yunyun Zhou will present her book project on communist women cadres’ political encounters in China’s local party-state. The book illustrates the process of how the ‘ruled’ are transformed into the ‘rulers’ in everyday practices of China’s post-socialist governance. Discussions about the function of authoritarian state power through the political formation of communist cadres are central to the book.

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