On the evening of May 28, 2021, the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University (PKU) held the 51st “North Pavilion Dialogue” series lectures. Jie Dalei, Associate Professor at the School of International Studies (SIS), PKU, gave a lecture on the topic of “the ‘Deep State’ in the United States - Reality and Myth”. This lecture was hosted by Gui Yongtao, Vice President, the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), PKU and Vice President, School of International Studies (SIS), PKU.

Mr. Jie Dalei first shared the analysis of the process of how the “deep state” concept was communicated in the United States. Originating in Turkey, the “deep state” concept referred to “a clandestine force that can exert huge influence.” Ola Tunander, a Norwegian scholar, first used it in analyzing western countries. Later, Perter Scott, Mike Lofgren, and Michael J. Glennon analyzed U.S. policies using this concept or similar concepts. However, starting from an article published on the “Information Warfare” website in March 2016, the “deep state” concept has been included in the discourse system of far-right conspiracy theorists and rapidly spread in the United States. When Donald Trump used this concept in his Twitter post for the first time in June 2017, the “deep state” concept was officially included in the official political discourse of the United States. Conspiracy theorists have written books to propound ideas, and the poll data has also shown that a very high proportion of the people interviewed believed that the “deep state” existed.

Mr. Jie Dalei then focused on studying the professional bureaucracy in the United States and reviewed the development and expansion of the U.S. bureaucracy. Before President Andrew Jackson took office, the U.S. government was in the stage of “the gentry governing the country”, and government officials could serve a long term in the office. After Andrew Jackson took the office, he established the “spoils system” to give away government positions as rewards to those who supported him. However, due to the rapid industrialization of the U.S. society at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the spoils system could hardly be maintained, and the U.S. government gradually established the “performance appraisal system”. After several times of expansion, the government bureaucracy has ultimately developed to its present scale. However, the expansion of the bureaucratic system has also been criticized by relevant parties. Conservatives criticized the “bureaucratic state” for violating the spirit of the Constitution of the United States, while liberals criticized the “national security state” for damaging individual freedom.

On this basis, Mr. Jie Dalei then pinpointed that it was basically nonsense to argue that the United States had a systemic and organized “deep state” mainly composed of professional bureaucrats and targeted at the elected president when Donald Trump became president of the United States in early 2017. Firstly, based on his analysis of the U.S. bureaucratic system from a panoramic perspective, Mr. Jie Dalei pointed out that U.S. professional bureaucrats show diversified characteristics in terms of the political environment, ideology, and influence on policies, and professional bureaucrats and political officials can mutually change status. Secondly, it can be found through horizontal comparison with other countries that U.S. presidents have relatively higher political control over the bureaucratic system. At last, from the perspective of vertical comparison, there has been a long history of discord between presidents and professional bureaucrats in the United States. Therefore, Mr. Jie Dalei said that the tension between the bureaucratic system and the president that has been existing in the United States all along might have been worsened during Trump’s term of office, but there was no so-called “deep state”.

Next, Mr. Jie Dalei analyzed the reasons and methods for professional bureaucrats to boycott Donald Trump. He pointed out that professional bureaucrats boycotted the president for the following reasons: allegiance to the constitution and laws, adherence to professional norms, policy differences, and needed by objective running-in, and they used the following methods: delaying, expressing objections in internal discussions, deliberately leaking secrets, resigning, and resorting to the inspector general, Congress, and courts. As for the career of professional bureaucrats, the boycott itself also generated big risks. Later, Mr. Jie Dalei exemplified the subtle gaming among professional bureaucrats, political officials and presidents of the United States on the example of the case of “Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump campaign team”. 

At last, Mr. Jie Dalei concluded that the key to U.S. professional bureaucrats’ successful boycott of the president lies in whether they can graft their boycott onto the most basic U.S. constitutional structure featured by the separation of the three powers. Otherwise, the function of boycott implemented by professional bureaucrats would be limited.

During the Q&A session, Mr. Jie Dalei had discussions with teachers and students and exchanged ideas with them on the relationship between the “deep state” and the pro-establishment camp, the strength of control owned by Donald Trump over political officials and professional bureaucrats, the necessity of the existence of the “deep state” concept, etc. (Contributed by Zhang Xu)

Editor：Li Fangqi    Photographer：Zheng Peijie