ABSTRACT
This chapter uses China as a case study of the role of the military in politics in a developing Communist country. It refers to the people's liberation army, the standing military force of China. This chapter focuses on the economic reform period since 1978, with special emphasis on the years after the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. The military virtually took over the Chinese government apparatus from the national government to the local governments during the peak years of the cultural revolution, 1968 to 1971. Military-institutional interests include preservation of the military's institutional singularity and its self-determination in military affairs, exclusiveness of the monopoly of weapons and physical coercion, maintenance of military discipline and obedience, and safeguarding of financial and material requirements for national defense. The military in most countries, including democracies, is constantly involved in politics. This is in part due to its constitutional responsibilities and the personal interests of some military leaders.
