Far from being dichotomous, China’s governance is an evolving dialectical process.
COFCO Group booth at the China International Fair for Trade in Services, at Shougang Park in Beijing, September 11, 2025
Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China is a major addition to an already remarkable series. Covering the period from May 27, 2022 to December 20, 2024, this collection offers a wide selection of speeches and writings by the Chinese president, organized into 18 thematic sections, each ordered chronologically. For researchers, analysts and practitioners, this work is a true “gold mine” that offers historical testimony and serves as a methodological guide on how governance in China is conceived, articulated and implemented.
At a time when mainstream commentary often veers into caricature, reducing Chinese governance philosophy to dichotomies of “state or market” and “centralization or decentralization,” or attributing to it a pejorative or illegitimate character by calling it an “ideology,” this work offers a corrective. It is not a rigid doctrine, but a living praxis: governance as an evolving dialectical process, both clear in its general purpose and in its capacity for permanent self-reflection through experimentation.
A living praxis
A distinctive feature of Xi Jinping Thought, on full display in this work, is the emphasis on praxis. Governance is not seen as the implementation of abstract principles in a linear or top-down manner, but as a continuous process of synthesis. Policies emerge from a dialectical engagement between growth and sustainability, efficiency and equity, and openness and security. His speeches demonstrate a constant awareness that contradictions are not anomalies to be eliminated, but the very conditions of progress, requiring balance, adjustments and innovations.
This contrasts with Western custom which sees governance as a zero-sum game between different forces: more state, less market; more centralization, less autonomy; more rationality, less ideology; more security, less openness. This leads to dualistic frameworks where the Chinese political economy and social system are locked into artificial notions of “left” or “right.” Such categories fail to understand China’s political economy, where the reality is that of the symbiotic and dynamic relationship between state agencies and markets, central and local authorities, Party leadership and decentralized practices. What the texts reveal is a sophisticated and ongoing governance process that recognizes and accommodates complexity rather than ironing it out.
Chongqing East Railway Station, the largest high-speed railway station in western China, was put into operation on June 27, 2025.
A mutually constitutive relationship
One of the most persistent misinterpretations of China’s development trajectory over the past decade is the idea that the state supplants the market. The Chinese president’s writings demonstrate the opposite. Far from being marginal, markets play a preponderant role as drivers of efficiency, innovation and competition. Both private and public companies position themselves as market actors, competing vigorously in a structured institutional environment made possible by public goods provided by the state.
Investment in infrastructure, industrial coordination, financial regulation and social protection do not replace markets, but are the conditions of possibility. By establishing the frameworks within which businesses can compete and innovate, the state reinforces market dynamics rather than suppressing them. The result is not a dualistic opposition between the public sector and the market, but a mutually constitutive relationship, both intensely competitive and deeply rooted in public objectives.
Another recurring cliché is that China is increasingly centralized, with the Party leadership supposedly reducing institutional diversity. However, the documents in this volume shed light on a more complex reality. Party leadership is a fundamental principle of China’s Constitution, but it does not amount to bureaucratic concentration. Mr. Xi’s reflections often emphasize the role of local experimentation, adaptive policy mechanisms and feedback.
The concept of “mayor economics”, developed by Jin Keyu, is particularly relevant here. In China, local authorities hold significant power over investment, industrial policy and social protection, creating a highly decentralized system of economic governance. The operating model is based on the principle of subsidiarity which applies within an institutional framework guided by common objectives. This decentralized structure encourages competition between local governments and their innovation, bringing out a diversity of development trajectories within a unified strategic framework. Rather than monolithic centralization, this governance model is characterized by clear strategic management and local initiatives.
“Full-process popular democracy” is a prominent theme of this work. This concept has often been misunderstood outside China, often referred to as an ideological slogan. However, in its context, it is clear that it designates a form of governance where democratic participation is integrated throughout the political cycle: from agenda setting and deliberations to implementation and evaluation.
Unlike models that reduce democracy to simple periodic electoral procedures, full-process popular democracy prioritizes participation, consultation and responsiveness at all levels of governance. Local pilot projects, public consultations and institutionalized feedback mechanisms feed into national decision-making. The result is a democratic ethic anchored in practice. This approach is part of a more general conception of governance understood as a praxis constantly perfected thanks to its interaction with realities on the ground.
A dialectical method
The most striking thread of the work is the coherent application of dialectical reasoning. Governance challenges are not addressed through fixed formulas, but through the dynamic interaction of opposites. For example, environmental protection is not presented as a trade-off to be made with growth, but as a necessary condition for long-term prosperity. Security and openness are not presented as mutually exclusive, but requiring careful synthesis to ensure resilience. China’s development is not presented as a zero-sum game to be achieved at the expense of others, but a contributor to and beneficiary of the development of others.
This dialectical method reflects the lively character of Chinese Marxism as expressed by the Chinese president. This is not a dogmatic Marxism, but a Sinicized Marxism as a methodology. It is a way of addressing contradictions, identifying their dynamics and seeking creative solutions promoting development, social well-being and ecological responsibility. During its Sinicization, Marxism was enriched through contact with Chinese traditions of governance and political culture. The writings and speeches collected in the book repeatedly emphasize adjustment, experimentation and balance, qualities essential to governance in a rapidly changing world.
International understanding
The importance of this volume goes beyond the Chinese context. For international readers, the book challenges the relevance of conventional categories of analysis, inviting them to move beyond simplifying binary schemas and understand governance as a complex process, focused on both material prosperity and social cohesion.
For policymakers and analysts, it provides insight into China’s intellectual and institutional architecture. For scholars, it constitutes a primary source demonstrating how Chinese Marxism continues to evolve as a living praxis of governance. And for practitioners, it illustrates how a long-term strategic direction can be combined with decentralized experimentation and local initiative.
This work is the testimony of a dialectical approach in constant evolution in the face of the challenges of development, modernization and global transformations. It shows how methodological principles are applied, tested and refined in concrete contexts. It offers both an insight into Chinese governance philosophy and an invitation to rethink how governance might be conceived in the 21st century.
*WARWICK POWELL is an assistant professor at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia.
