依照中共建政以後的重大歷史發展，中共菁英政治的相關文獻大致分成四個類別，分別是「極權主義」途徑、「派系政治」途徑、「世代政治」途徑、「技術專家政治」途徑。本文把上述四類文獻的觀點放在當今的時空背景下，凸顯它們的侷限性。本文同時指出，由於中共高層的權力來源已出現轉變，制度化應成為未來研究的新方向。 Literature on Chinese elite politics can be classified into four research approaches; these approaches are: totalitarianism, factional politics, generational politics, and technocracy. The author claims that these approaches do not provide sufficient tools for a complete explanation of the dynamics of contemporary Chinese elite politics. As a result of the change of the source of power in Chinese politics, the author proposes a fifth approach-institutionalization-to analyze Chinese elite politics.
