Integration of CCP Leadership with Corporate Governance: Leading Role or Dismemberment ?

ABSTRACT: Since 2018, a political campaign to integrate leadership by the Communist Party as the core force in corporate governance in China has reversed the course of market reform in the past 40 years, which was predicated on separation of the Party’s political functions from company business operations. This article critically reviews the trend of developments from a historical perspective and analyses the impact of the political campaign on China’s socialist market economy and rule of law conditions. Some institutional implications are also examined in the comparative context with reference to the OECD Corporate Principles. The major argument of this article is that enhancing the Party’s leadership in companies will negatively affect development of the market economy and rule of law as well as China’s attempt to create an innovative society for its economic upgrading.   KEYWORDS: China, corporate governance, socialist market economy, economic reform, rule of law, Communist Party