• DOI:10.1007/BF02877033
• Corpus ID: 154504959

Religious policies in post-totalitarian China: Maintaining political monopoly over a reviving society

@article{Lai2006ReligiousPI,
  title={Religious policies in post-totalitarian China: Maintaining political monopoly over a reviving society},
  author={Hongyi Lai},
  journal={Journal of Chinese Political Science},
  year={2006},
  volume={11},
  pages={55-77}
}

• Hongyi Lai
• Published 1 March 2006
• Political Science
• Journal of Chinese Political Science

In the post-Mao era China’s society and religion are both becoming increasingly pluralistic. State policies toward religion are also evolving. Views of state-society relations as “totalitarian” exaggerate the state’s control; the civil-society approach overestimates society’s autonomy. This paper explains the state’s religious policies in terms of a “post-totalitarian” frame of reference. Religious organizations and the Communist Party share a reliance on ideology and organization to operate and survive, making them potential rivals. As a shrewd monopolist of organizational and ideological instruments, the state seeks to reduce the threat posed by religion, adopting differentiated strategies toward them as they revive. The state co-opts, tolerates, deters, restricts, or suppresses different religions or sects, according to each specific religion’s organizational strength, doctrine, and compliance with state authority. The state is thus able to prevent the rise of large, independent, and organized religious groups while leaving considerable space for religious activity.