Microblogs and the Adaptation of the Chinese Party‐State's Governance Strategy

The C hinese party‐state is currently adapting its governance strategy. The recent debate in C hina on the role of microblogs in the governance process, as documented in the reports issued by C hinese research institutes and advisory bodies, illustrates the efforts being undertaken by C hina's political elites to integrate microblogs into their new public management strategy. Mass protests and large‐scale online criticism—voiced via microblogs—directly threaten the regime's survival. As a consequence, legitimacy is no longer regarded as being inherent, but as something that has instead to be permanently regained and reaffirmed. To increase the system's efficiency and to generate a new kind of symbolic legitimacy, C hina's political elites tend to base the political decision‐making process on strategic calculations intended to be reflective of public online opinion. The turn toward a more responsive way of governing by the C hinese party‐state demonstrates once more the adaptability of authoritarian one‐party states in the digital era.