Abstract

Studies and analyses of what has been called the party-state system in China have highlighted the relationship between the power system on the one hand and society on the other, as China has passed from the Maoist (1949-1976) to the post-Maoist phase (1976-present), from an autonomous state and state-dominated society to what has been termed «a negotiated state». The contribution highlights some of the most important issues and themes that have emerged in the second half of the twentieth century and in this first glimpse of the new century in the relations between power and society, and between a unitary political system and ethnic plurality.