Decoding Chinese political discourse

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• GGP: Global Governance Programme

This panel will examine the formation and transformation of key concepts in contemporary Chinese political discourse, by focusing on two notions central to the discursive legitimation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at both domestic and international levels: democracy (minzhu 民主) and multipolarity (duojihua 多极化).

We will explore how the Chinese Communist Party has redefined democracy outside the Western liberal framework, culminating in Xi Jinping’s formulation of whole-process people’s democracy , and analyse its development alongside the evolution of debates on multipolarity since the post–Cold War era.

By bringing these conceptual trajectories into dialogue, the panel will highlight how discourses on democracy and multipolarity have evolved in parallel and in interaction, forming a broader conceptual framework through which China legitimises its political system domestically while articulating a normative vision of the international order.

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