The Chinese Communist Party Since 1949: Organization, Ideology, and Prospect for Change

With a membership of nearly 90 million, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the world's largest political party. It is also one of the longest ruling parties in the world and has been able to weather huge challenges caused by the deep transformation of Chinese society as well as the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Moreover, in recent years, and especially during the era of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the CCP has centralized its grip over Chinese society. This study is intent on depicting major aspects concerning the CCP's organizational arrangement and explaining some key concepts in the ideological framework constructed by the CCP leadership over time. it is important to take a new and closer look at how the study of the CCP has evolved in terms of themes, concepts, and areas of research. We do so in the following discussion by exploring nine topics: Party organization, cadre management, nomenklatura, cadre advancement and training, Party ideology, Party reform and adaptation, the Party and business, the Party and corruption, and the Party and the law. The intention is not to develop a new theory on how to understand the Party's role in Chinese society but, rather, to identify key debates, paradigms, and emerging research directions.