Corporatism, civil society and democratisation in the People's Republic of China

This paper raises serious doubts about the theme that depicts “China as a corporatist system”, and argues that, although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is truly loosening its control over the state enterprises, it still maintains its formal authority and is still playing a leading role in the industrial system. A clarification of the notion is timely in view of the conceptual ambiguity involved. Corporatism could be understood as a set of structures, which link society with the state; in other words, it could be studied as a broader problem of interrelationships between state and society.