Julia Marinaccio (Berlin)

In my dissertation, I argue that regime resilience in China grounds on the party-state’s capacity to turn its propagated values into consistent actions and reveal that the training of officials is a critical instrument in avoiding the emergence of a ‘symbolic-operational paradox.’ With a case study on China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA), I explain how cadre training in party schools relates to sector-specific training in functional bureaucracies, to what extent training takes part in the construction of a vision of sustainable development, and why training is an essential bureaucratic means of (environmental) governance in China. My talk presents the key findings of my research offering insights into the complexity of structures and processes of training in China’s party-state administration of unprecedented focus and scope.