The Micro-Foundations of Politics: Elite Interactions and Political Alignment in China’s Reform Era

Yang Zhang, American University

This research attempts to uncover the micro-processes of political cleavage, polarization, and clashes. We argue elite alignment and cleavage is less driven by either ideological positions or preexisting ties than their incessant interactions, which occasionally lead to political collisions. By employing longitudinal network analysis to examine an original dataset of elite conversations in China between 1977 and 1992, we reconstruct the sequences of elite relationship structure in this era and offer novel explanations to the political clash during the pivotal moment of the 1989 Tiananmen Movement. Our study challenges the long-held belief that Chinese leaders divided into two rival groups—the Reformers and the Conservatives—with nearly fixed ideological orientations and membership. Furthermore, factional ambiguity and oscillation were not caused by the “robust-action” leadership style of Deng Xiaoping who is said to balance and manipulate multiplex factions. Instead, political coalitions at the top constantly shifted in elite interactions, periodically producing power reshuffles amid relational disarray. This study juxtaposes micro-sociological insights and network analysis to offer new accounts of macro-historical change.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 155. Capitalizing on the Crisis of Socialism: The Pathways of China's Reform Reconsidered