ABSTRACT
One of the defining features of China's political system has been the preeminent role of the Chinese Communist Party in the political, economic, and social realms. While the CCP maintains a monopoly on legitimate political organization, two decades of reform have weakened its capacity to monitor and control the behavior of not only the vast majority of its citizens but its officials as well. While the party's growing irrelevance in everyday life may benefit economic and social progress, it is also harder for the party to maintain political stability at the local level. The party faces the challenges of party building in the dynamic private sector, of maintaining its control over the newly formed economic and social organizations, and to forestall social demands for political change. Its success in facing these challenges may determine how well it can cope with the prospects of rising unemployment, displaced labor, stagnant or falling standards of living, and the general uncertainty created by the initiation of a new set of reforms at the 15th Party Congress in 1997, and ultimately whether it can preserve China's political stability at a time of rapid economic and political change.
