ABSTRACT
As the single ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with a massive membership and extensive organizations permeating both the state and the society, occupies a pivotal role in any political change in China. The CCP itself however is not a constant-it is constantly evolving. Its evolution in the post-Mao era is shaped and to a large extent driven by the changes in the environment. Nothing is more revealing of the dynamic of political change than the everyday interactions between the CCP’s grassroots organizations and their socioeconomic environments. To analyze such interactions, more specifi cally the impact of the interactions upon Party members and organizations, are the subject of this book. This chapter fi rst tries to provide some perspective on the nature and the unique position of the CCP, and then addresses some conceptual and theoretical issues to work out the theoretical framework for subsequent chapters.
