The Politics of Covid-19
The Political Logic of China's Zero-Covid Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3986745 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Y Zhai (0000-0002-6903-4319, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 869-886 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00472336.2023.2194322 |
| OpenAlex | W4364378007 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 48 |
From the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan in late 2019 until December 2022, China implemented stringent infection prevention and control measures known as the Zero-COVID policy. Western observers and some Chinese intellectuals have questioned this rigid policy, but few studies offer a comprehensive overview of the political reasonings behind it. This article positions the Zero-COVID policy in a broader historical context of the Chinese Communist Party's regime maintenance, revolutionary legacies, and political mobilisation. It analyses the political reasonings behind this policy from three dimensions: system, actors, and approach, and provides accounts of the politics of the pandemic. The results reveal that the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party was caught in a dilemma. The Zero-COVID policy is used to bolster legitimacy of the regime; however, it also set traps in which the Chinese government risked losing the public's trust. The negative outcomes of the policy were underestimated by the Chinese leadership, which believed in its ability to balance the cost and benefit of this policy for the sake of maintenance of its rule. The politics of COVID-19 mirrors China's authoritarian politics in general
Authoritarianism · China · Communism · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Economic system · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · COVID-19 epidemiological studies · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Public Administration · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
Enhancing political trust through media diversity in post-pandemic China
Fighting Covid-19 in China’s Greater Bay Area
Hygiene and the New China
‘The coronavirus is a formidable foe’
Propagandization of policy reversal
HIV/Aids, Sars, and Covid-19
Smoothness, beauty, and persuasion in Chinese political visual culture
Public support for governments in China and Japan during a global health crisis
Managing national expert and advisory committees in the Chinese policy advisory system
From patriotic nationals to critical citizens? The A4 Movement and the change in long-distance nationalism among overseas PRC-Chinese
Volunteering and abuse
The Border Turns Very Dry”
Temporary food insecurity, social capital, and mental health during the Covid-19 lockdowns in Shanghai
Community governance during the Shanghai Covid lockdown II
The association between food insecurity and social capital under the lockdowns in Covid-hit Shanghai
Guanxi
The Covid-19 pandemic and popular confidence in democracy
Strict Covid-19 lockdown and popular regime support in China
Why did China persist with a zero-Covid policy? A cultural interpretation of Confucianism
A pyramid of human ecology of disease for pandemic preparedness
A timespace of zero-Covid in Southwest China
The effect of human mobility and control measures on the Covid-19 epidemic in China
Effective containment explains subexponential growth in recent confirmed Covid-19 cases in China
Managing Legitimacy
Confronting Covid-19
Managing government legitimacy during the Covid-19 pandemic in China
Social dominance orientation, right‐wing authoritarianism, and political attitudes toward governmental performance during the Covid‐19 pandemic
Outgroup threat, ideology, and favorable evaluations of the government’s responses to Covid-19
The Cultural Logic of Politics in Mainland China and Taiwan
Losers' Consent
The Legitimation of Power
Political Ideology, Ingroup Favoritism, and Conspiratorial Thinking
Crisis and Governance
Studying Chinese Politics
Chinese Citizen Satisfaction with Government Performance during Covid-19
Assessing political support in China
China versus the US in the pandemic crisis
Balancing Governance Capacity and Legitimacy
Organizing for Crisis Management
Economic Evaluations and Political Support in Authoritarian Countries
China's New Nationalism
Looking forward and looking backward
A Chinese Popularity Function
Covid‐19, nationalism, and the politics of crisis
Remarkable economic growth, but so what? The impacts of modernization on Chinese citizens’ political satisfaction
Government policy performance and central–local political trust in China
China's Changing of the Guard
The Perpetual Crises of Democracy
China's Changing of the Guard
Risk society and the politics of food safety problems in China
Political legitimacy and china’s transition
We are at war
Psychological Perspectives on Legitimacy and Legitimation
The Mandate of Heaven and Performance Legitimation in Historical and Contemporary China
Conceptualizing Legitimacy, Measuring Legitimating Beliefs
China's Governance Crisis
Covid-19 and the Pathologies of Australia's Regulatory State
Mass Persuasion as a Means of Legitimation and China's Popular Authoritarianism
Creating Political Legitimacy
Government Legitimacy and Political Stability
Traditional Values and Political Trust in China
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 10,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 21 |