The Mandate of Heaven and Performance Legitimation in Historical and Contemporary China

This article argues that performance legitimacy, an aspect of state legitimacy neglected by Weber in his original formulation of the theory of domination, played a particularly important role in the history of China and has shaped not only the patterns of Chinese history but also today’s Chinese politics. Yet, performance legitimacy is intrinsically unstable because it carries concrete promises and therefore will trigger immediate political crisis when the promises are unfulfilled. This problem is especially profound for a modern state once its power is based primarily on performance because modern states tend to be development rather than maintenance oriented and promise too much. Therefore, although the current government expends much effort to heighten its legitimacy by improving its performance, it will face a major crisis when the Chinese economy cools off unless it establishes legal-electoral legitimacy.