EVENTS

Abstract 

Since the 18th Party Congress in 2012, Xi Jinping has not only become a powerful leader but also marked a new era in Chinese elite politics. With never ending party rectification and increasing concentration of power, many commentators allege that Xi Jinping’s first five years was reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution. Even the events leading to the 19th Party Congress in 2017 reflected ‘encompassing’ authoritarianism in the party-state with leaders undermining established institutions and redefining new party ‘norms’ and ‘rules’ thereby changing the political landscape of the party-state. The speaker in the presentation will explore the Communist Party of China’s transformation and attempts to analyze the party’s role in China’s emerging ‘strongman’ politics under Xi Jinping.

About the speaker 

Bhim B. Subba (蘇斌)is a Research Associate at the ICS. He has recently submitted his PhD dissertation in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. He was an ICS-HYI Visiting Fellow and spent a year at Harvard University for his doctoral research (2016-17). He is a Political Science major from the Centre for Political Studies, JNU, Delhi. From 2015-16, he was affiliated with the Mandarin Training Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, ROC where he pursued language study and independent research. As a recipient of a Confucius Institute Scholarship, he was also enrolled at Harbin Normal University, Heilongjiang, PRC pursuing Mandarin language training. His research interests include comparative political theory, Chinese politics  and India-China comparatives