Organizational Perspectives and Decision-making in the Chinese Communist High Command.

An examination of decisionmaking in Communist China that views the decisionmaking process as the outcome of various conceptions of national, organizational, and personal goals. Within the high command, at least 6 major career channels exist, each with a distinctive set of organizational interests, values, attitudes, and goals: local forces, ground forces, general political department, general rear services, navy, and air force. China's military regions have become a locus of major political as well as military decisions. Ground force units and senior commanders are preoccupied with internal stability. The older leaders share with them a preference for defense, decentralized among relatively independent military regions. The navy, a hostage of ground force thinking, has small, high-speed patrol- and torpedo-boats for Asian coastal defense. But the navy and air force may demand increasing support for modernization, while the advanced-weapons program can be expected to become increasingly significant in negotiation and compromise over resources and rewards. 50 pp. Ref.