The Communist Party of China’s New Central Department of Social Work

CSC International Research Webinar Series

The Communist Party of China’s New Central Department of Social Work: Neo-Socialist Governance or Bolshevized Party Discipline?

Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) social governance has increasingly prioritized party control over autonomy. In March 2023, the party took a further step in this direction with the establishment of the CCP’s Department of Social Work to reinforce party building among social organizations, private enterprises, letters and visits bureaus, volunteer workers and grassroots government. Social work points to the party’s activities to maintain stability in dealing with forces in society that are not necessarily fully aligned with the party’s goals. As part of a long-standing trend of governance becoming increasingly party-dominated, the Department of Social Work seeks to reduce the autonomy of these forces and ensure their adherence to the requirements of party building and party discipline.

About the speakers

Frank N Pieke (1957) is Visiting Research Professor at the East Institute in Singapore and Emeritus Professor of Modern China Studies at Leiden University. Pieke studied Cultural Anthropology and Chinese studies in Amsterdam, Beijing and Berkeley. After teaching in Leiden and Oxford for more than 30 years, he served as the director of the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin before moving to Singapore in 2022. His current work focuses on CCP organization and governance inside and outside China, the impact of geo-political shifts on global firms’ business strategies, China’s foreign-related rule of law, and Chinese influence in Europe, India and Southeast Asia. He can be contacted at fpieke@nus.edu.sg or f.n.pieke@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Bingqin Li (Moderator) is Professor of Social Policy at the Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW, and is affiliated with the China Studies Centre in Sydney. Her work is distinguished by sustained, long-term empirical engagement with both the Chinese and Australian welfare systems. This dual grounding has produced a body of scholarship that moves beyond surface comparison, offering analyses directly relevant to policy development and reform in both countries. Her research focuses on the political economy and governance of social policy, with particular attention to pensions and ageing, disability, and mental health. In China, she is widely recognised for frameworks explaining institutional fragmentation, social exclusion, regional inequality, and local variation in policy implementation. In Australia, her work has contributed to debates on social integration and service delivery for highly diverse and geographically dispersed populations. Her research bridges Chinese and Australian policy debates and advances understanding of welfare reform, equity, and social cohesion across different state traditions.