Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China

by Ezra F. Vogel

Yan Jiaqi, later head of the Political Science Institute of the CASS, recommended limited terms of office for all officials to prevent a recurrence of such disasters.

Deng explained what he meant by inner-party democracy: party members should speak out when they have something to say to help solve problems. Once top party leaders had listened to various views and made their decisions, the party members were to carry them out.

They believed that a system that allows a legislative body to make laws without having the responsibility for implementing them is not as effective as concentrating law-making and implementation in one body.