Dingxueliang-Institutional-Amphibiousness-and-the-

CambridgeUniversityPressiscollaboratingwithJSTORtodigitize,preserveandextendaccesstoBritishJournalofPoliticalScience.(s):X.L.DingSource:BritishJournalofPoliticalScience,Vol.24,No.3(Jul.,1994),pp.293-318Publishedby:CambridgeUniversityPressStableURL::29-07-201503:31UTCYouruseoftheJSTORarchiveindicatesyouracceptanceoftheTerms&ConditionsofUse,[e-mail]m58.251.166.14onWed,29Jul201503:31:02UTCAllusesubjecttoJSTORTermsandConditionsB.J.Pol.S.24,293-318Copyright?1994CambridgeUniversityPressPrintedinGreatBritainInstitutionalAmphibiousnessandtheTransitionfromCommunism:TheCaseofChinaX.L.DING*Inthepracticeofsocialscience,themostconspicuousrecentattemptattheorizingaboutnonconformityandprotestinlatecommunismrestsontheconceptualschemaof'civilsocietyversusthestate'.Basedonacasestudyoftheinstitutionalbasisofcriticismof,anddissentagainst,communisminChina,Icontendthatthedichotomousconcept'civilsocietyversusthestate',whenusedtoexplainthetransitionfromcommunism,isapplicableonlyinrare,extremecasesandmisleadinginmostcases.Instead,Iintroducetheconceptof'institutionalamphibiousness',stressinginstitutionalparasitismandinstitutionalmanipulationandconversion.Inmostcases,institutionalamphibiousnessmoreadequatelyaccountsforthedynamicsoftheerosionofcommunismthantheconceptof'civilsocietyversusthestate'.Themostconspicuousrecentattemptattheorizingaboutnonconformityandoppositioninlatecommunismrestsupontheconceptualschemaof'civilsocietyversusthestate'.Thisapproachdatesfromthelate1970s,when'theemergenceandgrowthofindependentsocialgroupswhichmanagedtosurvivetherepressions,especiallyinPolandandCzechoslovakia,broughttolightacompletelackofthesortsofmethodandtheoreticalbackgroundwhichwouldenablescholarlyanalysesofthisproblem'.'Thus,acentralnotioninclassicalpoliticaltheory-civilsociety-wasre-introducedtocopewiththenewphenomenonbystudentsofcommunismsuchasIvanSzelenyi,JacquesRupnikandAndrewArato.2Bythelate1980sandtheearly1990s,whenmostcommunistregimesunderpressureabandonedtheirattemptattotalcontrolofsociety,aninfluentialintellectualwavebrokethatemployednotionsofregenerationofcivilsociety'and'civilsocietyagainstthestate'asameansof*DivisionofSocialScience,HongKongUniversityofScience&Technology.Therevisionofthearticlebenefitedenormouslyfromcommentsandsuggestionsfromreadersandaudiencesonmanyoccasions.TheauthorisespeciallygratefultoDanielBell,RoderickMacFarquhar,EzraVogel,AndrewWalder,AlbertWeale,twoanonymousreviewersoftheJournal,KalApplbaum,EllinSarotandMarthaDahlen.ZbigniewRau,'SomeThoughtsonCivilSocietyinEasternEuropeandtheLockeanContractarianApproach',PoliticalStudies,35(1987),573-92,p.574.2IvanSzelenyi,'SocialistOppositioninEasternEurope:DilemmasandProspects',inR.L.Tokes,ed.,OppositioninEasternEurope(Basingstoke:Macmillan,1979,pp.187-208);JacquesRupnik,'DissentinPoland,1968-78:TheEndofRevisionismandtheRebirthoftheCivilSociety',inTokes,ed.,Opposition,pp.60-112;AndrewArato,'CivilSocietyAgainsttheState:Poland1980-81',Telos,47(1981),23-47.Thiscontentdownloadedfrom58.251.166.14onWed,29Jul201503:31:02UTCAllusesubjecttoJSTORTermsandConditions294DINGconceptualizingthecollapseofcommunism.3Oneenthusiasticadvocateofthecivilsocietytheoryhasmadethefollowingclaims:Thetheory...isrelevantbothforitsanalyticpotential-itexplainsthechangesgoingoninthecommunistworld-andforitspredictivepower.Asatheoryitchallengeslong-heldassumptionsaboutthenonreformabilityofcommunisttotalitarianregimes.Itshowsthatsmallislandsofautonomycaneventuallytorpedothecontinuumofstate-controlledheteronomy.Itarguesthatthetransitionispossiblefromatotalitariandictatorshiptofirstanauthoritarianandfurthertoapluralistorder.4Theuseofcivilsocietytheorytoexplainthefundamentalchangessweepingthroughthecommunistworldisveryappealing.Communismhaslongbeenviewedasaparadigmofstatism.5Inthisinstitutionalcontext,anymajorchangesincommunistsystemscannotbutinduceobserverstoreconceptualizestate-societyrelations.Inspiteofthis,theapplicationofthe'civilsocietyversusthestate'schematothecontemporarytransitionfromcommunismasawholeisproblematical.Incontemporarysocialandpoliticaltheory,civilsocietyisbasicallydefinedasthenon-state,orthelimitsofstateaction.Theschema'thestateversuscivilsociety'isusedtorefertothepublicversustheprivate,thecoerciveversustheCivilsocietytheorywasinitiallyappliedtotheEastEuropeanandSovietcases.See,forexample,MosheLewin,TheGorbachevPhenomenon:AHistoricalInterpretation(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1988);JohnKeane,ed.,CivilSocietyandtheState:NewEuropeanPerspectives(London:Verso,1988);FrederickS.Starr,'