Rationalising stability preservation through Mao’s not so invisible hand
Author(s)
Trevaskes, Sue
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper considers the process of constructing the official discourse of weiwen (preserving stability) in the policing arena in the first decade of the 21st century. It focuses on the pivotal period after 2003 when policing priorities were shifted from "striking hard" at serious crime to pursuing weiwen to contain burgeoning protests and civil dissent, as a move to maintain stability in the early to mid years of the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao harmonious society era. We observe how Mao has been central in this process. Stability preservation operations have been rationalised through Maoist ideology using some staples of Maoist ...
View more >This paper considers the process of constructing the official discourse of weiwen (preserving stability) in the policing arena in the first decade of the 21st century. It focuses on the pivotal period after 2003 when policing priorities were shifted from "striking hard" at serious crime to pursuing weiwen to contain burgeoning protests and civil dissent, as a move to maintain stability in the early to mid years of the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao harmonious society era. We observe how Mao has been central in this process. Stability preservation operations have been rationalised through Maoist ideology using some staples of Maoist discourse, particularly "social contradictions", and policing authorities have adopted key methodological aspects of Maoist campaign-style policing to embed this new weiwen focus in the everyday agendas of policing, while ever more "mass incidents" disrupt the maintenance of stability in China.
View less >
View more >This paper considers the process of constructing the official discourse of weiwen (preserving stability) in the policing arena in the first decade of the 21st century. It focuses on the pivotal period after 2003 when policing priorities were shifted from "striking hard" at serious crime to pursuing weiwen to contain burgeoning protests and civil dissent, as a move to maintain stability in the early to mid years of the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao harmonious society era. We observe how Mao has been central in this process. Stability preservation operations have been rationalised through Maoist ideology using some staples of Maoist discourse, particularly "social contradictions", and policing authorities have adopted key methodological aspects of Maoist campaign-style policing to embed this new weiwen focus in the everyday agendas of policing, while ever more "mass incidents" disrupt the maintenance of stability in China.
View less >
Journal Title
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
Volume
42
Issue
2
Subject
Policy and Administration
Political Science