China moves towards presidential-style leadership

Subject

Elite politics in China.

Significance

The Communist Party's 'Sixth Plenum' meeting in October focused on how President Xi Jinping controls the party bureaucracy and how central government controls local government. Xi's appointment as 'core leader' suggests further shifts away from consensus-based cabinet governance towards a presidential style.

Impacts

• Established party rules of leadership succession, which regulate factional conflict among hundreds of senior officials, will be corroded.
• Future leadership transitions may be contested by a larger and older group of officials.
• More intense politics may distract the party from the business of government.
• There is some evidence of dissonance in the party regarding these changes but this does not threaten Xi's position.