Intra-Party Regulations: Origins, Development, and Trends

Abstract ‘Intra-party regulations’ originated in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) revolutionary period and developed in the reform period. As the process of ‘comprehensively deepening reform’ develops, the CCP seeks to promote its notion of ‘reform’ and the ‘rule of law,’ advancing ‘comprehensive strict governance of the Party’ (全面从严治党) and ‘comprehensive law-based governance of the country’ (全面依法治国) as an integrated whole, and pursuing an ‘organic unity’ of ‘governing the country according to law and governing the Party according to regulations.’ As a natural consequence, this approach creates new institutional demands and social foundations for the development of intra-party regulations. This article analyses the origin of intra-party regulations, examines the intersection between intra-party regulations and the project of building a ‘rule of law China,’ and probes intra-party regulation development trends. It demonstrates how the CCP seeks to use intra-party regulations to realise an ‘organic unity of governing the country according to law and governing the Party according to regulations.’