Society for Restoring Benevolence
Society for Restoring Benevolence 仁者再生会 Rénzhě zàishēng huì | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairwoman | Yuan Qinqin |
| Leader in the Legislative Council | Wang Hongzhi |
| Founder | Yuan Xiannian |
| Founded | 12th March 2007 |
| Merger of | Constitutional Protection Society, National Association for Progress, independents |
| Headquarters | 14 Donfang District, Rongzhuo |
| Newspaper | Global Review |
| Youth wing | Nationalist Revivalist Front |
| Membership | 12 million |
| Ideology | National Principlism Shangean nationalism Authoritarianism Social conservatism Economic nationalism Yuanism Anti-imperialism (self-proclaimed) |
| Political position | Big tent |
| National affiliation | Patriotic Alliance for a Harmonious Country |
| Colors | Red |
| Legislative Council | 515 / 750
|
| Seats in regional assemblies | 1,836 / 2,506
|
| State Presidium | 6 / 10
|
The Society for Restoring Benevolence (Shangea: 仁者再生会; Rénzhě zàishēng huì) is a political party in Shangea. Since its creation in 2007 it has been the ruling party of Shangea representing the interests of senior governmental figures, big business and the state bureaucracy being supportive of State Chairman Yuan Xiannian and his agenda.
The Society for Restoring Benevolence is the latest in a line of ruling parties in Shangea that have held power since 1940 starting with the Xiaodong Regeneration Society that are often referred to as the "party of power". The Society itself was created in March 2007 as a merger of the Constitutional Protection Society and the National Association for Progress. It sought to promote the values of National Principlism and the "Corrective Revolutionary spirit".
The party has ruled Shangea as a dominant-party state since its foundation in 2007, winning a legislative supermajority at the 2009 election and a simple majority at the 2014 election. The Society suffered a decline in support as a result of the 2016-17 Shangean Protests. The 10th January snap elections in 2017 saw the Society and affiliated parties win an overwhelming majority in the Legislative Council in a result that was largely seen as rigged. The continuing protests and harsh suppression of them with the advent of the Normalisation process saw the party cement itself as the central organ of the Shangean state, a position it has continued to hold throughout the Yuan government.
The Society states that it is a big tent party which supports National Principlism, anti-imperialism and economic reformism. However most observers state that the party has no real policies other then support for Yuan Xiannian and as such adopts similar policies to him such as promotion of nationalism and economic centralisation. The Society have support across most societal sectors having links with big business, the government bureaucracy and the military. As the "permanent party of government" the Society often resorts to a mixture of pragmatist and populist policies to the extent where critics contend that the party is largely non-ideological save for preserving statism.
History
Formation
The Society for Restoring Benevolence was founded as a merger of the two governing parties of Shangea, the Constitutional Protection Society and the National Association for Progress. The CPP had been founded in 1984 by then-State Chairman Qian Xingwen to be a dominant-party similar to the Xiaodong Regeneration Society which had governed the country from 1940 to 1970. However it lost popularity following the Orchid Revolution with the reformist faction splitting forming the Concordance Democratic Party. The CDP itself would splinter in government under Li Jingyao in 1993 due to pressure from State Chairman Yang Zhengming with a more conservative faction under Mao Zhukang and Han Guanzheng forming the NAP. The CPP and NAP would subsequently form a coalition government from May 1994 onwards with the CPP taking the State Chairman role and the NAP the premiership.
The NAP were the more reformist of the two supporting economic liberalisation whilst the CPP represented the more purist National Principlist doctrine. Efforts to merge them floundered as the NAP leader and premier Han Guanzheng opposed a centralisation of power around State Chairman and dominant CPP personality Yang. Yangs retirement in 2006 and replacement with vice-premier Yuan Xiannian saw a push from Yuan to merge the two parties to enforce more ideological rigour to governance and provide stability in Shangean politics. Yuan's popularity and the support he garnered from a new generation of politicians such as Jiang Zhongyu, Xu Bangguo and Wang Hongzhi helped lead to the NAP and CPP to approve a merger in March 2007 with Yuan being elected the first chairman of the party.
The merger into the Society was presented by Yuan as providing the country with a unitary, big-tent party that would uphold National Principlism whilst providing pragmatic and non-ideological governance. The unitary party however was noted in its governing programme to take a more nationalist, less reform-minded course with its senior leadership being more identified with supporters of Yuan's ultranationalism and economic populism.
Party of power
Normalisation and its aftermath
Ideology and policies
The Society for Restoring Benevolence officially ascribe to the ideology of National Principlism which advocates for economic modernisation, centralised political republicanism and social collectivism that aim to serve national rather than personal interest. In a general sense this is defined to encompasses nationalism, authoritarianism, neosocialism, political Zohism and social justice (although not in the modern meaning of the term).
In practice, the Society often endorses the centralisation of state power, upholding of traditional culture and an archaic form of social justice. Key to the Society's policy making and ideology is the belief in authoritarian, top-down centralisation of power. National Principlism above all else endorses social stability and the role of an authoritarian, paternalistic state. As a result the Society remain sceptical of popular movements, and seek to maintain a low level of constant control of Shangean society. The Society is disapproving of an active civil society, but since democratic reforms Neo-National Principlists have aimed to fuse traditional paternalist authoritarianism with a form of "authoritarian democracy" in which political participation is limited to elections alone. The Society's focus on social stability means that it endorses moderate social reform and the existence of a welfare state in order to prevent revolution and social collapse. The Society opposes market fundamentalism and individualism, seeing both as detrimental to the social cohesion of the nation.
International paper Le Monde described National Principlism and the Society's adoption of it as being a practice "a way to justify a rigid, authoritarian state that seeks to control the lives of its citizens whilst maintaining a thin veneer of adherence to democratic principles". The Society is commonly considered ideologically to support the agenda of incumbent State Chairman Yuan Xiannian sometimes being dubbed a personalist project.
Economic policy
The Society often uses socialist rhetoric and identifies its economic position as serving the people's and national welfare, rejecting capitalism as being unsuited to the national conditions of Shangea, and proposes instead "Shangean socialism" to deal with Shangean problems. The Society's socialist ideology has been defined as "neosocialist revisionism".
In practice unlike their predecessor parties such as the Xiaodong Regeneration Society or the National Association for Progress the Society neither support a command economy nor economic liberalism. Rather they support a statist, regulatory approach to economic management championing a form of state-sponsored capitalism wherein the state would direct large monopolies through strategic interventions, with the intention to guide the economy to ensure the national interest was served. However, certain sectors, notably the financial sector, remain deregulated and direct taxes low. As well as this, the Society became very heavily in favour of free trade aggressively dismantling tariffs and encouraging foreign investment. Under Yuan, faith in the free market was replaced by a belief of Society policy makers that the state was necessary to ensure economic growth in key sectors and mitigate the downturns of free-market instability. Nevertheless, the Society reject nationalisation and support the privatisation of state assets. In 2013 Yuan defined his economic strategy as encouraging investment through higher education and infrastructure spending, stability through economic interventions and tightly controlling the value of kuai, and liberalisation through massive privatisation and embracing free trade. Since 2017 however there has been a greater focus on economic nationalism with the state expanding support for "national champions" whilst halting the privatisation process.
The current economic program of the Society supports state-sponsored investment, privatisation of state-owned assets, focus on indirect taxation and export-based inflationary growth.
Historical Revisionism
As part of its nationalist ideology, the Society support historical revisionism in regards to Shangeab history particularly the Senrian Genocide. The Society wholeheartedly reject the Treaty of Keishi which they deem illegitimate as it was signed by an illegitimate government and was not done in fair terms. In particular, the Society have stated that Shangea does not bear responsibility for the war stating that the Senrian annexation of Sakata led to the conflict. The Society have also said that Shangea's imperialist ambitions were "less malicious" to those of Gaullica, Estmere, Etruria and Werania and that Shangea protected Coian nations such as Senria from Euclean imperialism.
In terms of the Senrian Genocide the Society have been unable to present a unified opinion on the matter. Officially they endorse Qian Xingwen's 1987 declaration "On the Subject of the Senrian War and its consequences" admitted mass killing had taken place and apologised for civilian deaths, although Qian ruled out the possibility of reparations, stating the mass killings of civilians was simply part of the war and there was no "policy of extermination". Recently under Yuan Xiannian the Society has become more openly historical revisionist, with Yuan rejecting the possibility of a genocide as "Senrian functionalist propaganda". In 2016, Yuan stated Shangean war crimes were a "detail of history" and that ", the Senrian claim that there was a pre-planned effort to kill civilians on a mass scale is absurd...why would a nation, especially one with as peaceful culture as Shangea, do such crimes?".
Foreign policy
The Society aimed to maintain "total independence" in foreign affairs, and are critical of "imperialist domination". It has been the aim of the Society to create an alliance of Coian nations through both the Rongzhuo Strategic Protocol Organisation and the International Forum for Developing States. The Society officially endorse the Three Fundamentals - the isolation of Senria from international affairs, the maintenance of Shangea as a great power and the promotion of anti-imperialism.
The Society have in recent years promoted soft power positions such as increasing international aid, investing in developing countries, investing in Shangean culture and promoting it abroad through organisations such as the International Forum for Shangean Affairs. They additionally support the integration of Heijiang into Shangea.
Social policy
The Society oppose the legalisation of same-sex marriage with critics accusing the Society of using homophobic rhetoric. In 2021 the Society endorsed a law prohibiting LGBT+ representation in Shangean media.
Organisation
The highest ranking official within the Society for Restoring Benevolence is its Chairman (主席; Zhǔxí). The Chairman is the head of the Central Executive Committee (中央行政部门委员会; Zhōngyāng xíngzhèng bùmén wěiyuán huì) which is made up of 20 voting members and 5 non-voting members, acting as the supreme executive body within the Regeneration Society. The Central Executive Committee sets the policy of the party as well as oversee party affairs and appointments. The Central Executive Committee is appointed by the Chairman who is elected by the Regeneration Society Plenum (全会; Quánhuì) which meets every five years - as such the Chairman is allowed to run for unlimited five year terms. The Plenum is made up of delegates from regional Society branches who are picked by the Chairman, meaning the Chairman is always re-elected. The next party plenum is scheduled to take place in 2027.
The day-to-day running of the party is handled by the Co-ordination Unit which oversees the administration and finances of the Society on a nationwide basis. It is led by three General Secretaries and contains several rotating members overall. The Co-ordination Unit is appointed by the Central Executive Committee. Members of the Society who sit in the Legislative Council form the Legislative Unit that coordinates party affairs between members of the Legislative Council. The members of all these branches are appointed by the Central Executive Committee who also appoint the leaders of regional party branches. Prospective candidates for elections are also approved by the Central Executive Committee via the Co-ordination Unit. Most policy within the Society is set by the Policy Unit, which is appointed by the Chairman. At a local level the Society is governed by prefectural branches which in turn are divided into municipal branches.
In practice much of the organisation of the Regeneration Society is based on guanxi networks between members of the Society and the public, with the Society relying on the personal loyalty of members and supporters to increase their own influence in the Society and maintain power, leading to accusations of cronyism and nepotism as well as factionalism being common.
Internal groupings
Party chairman
| No. | Name (Born–Died) |
Portrait | Term in Office | State position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuan Xiannian (1954-) |
 |
12th March 2007 | 18th June 2011 | State Chairman |
| 2 | Xi Yaotang (1943-) |
 |
18th June 2011 | 19th June 2014 | Premier |
| 3 | Jiang Zhongyu (1956 -) |
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19th June 2014 | 9th March 2022 | Premier |
| 4 | Yuan Qinqin (1986 -) |
 |
9th March 2022 | Present | Coordinating Minister of Social and Cultural Affairs |