Chinese Politics as Fragmented Authoritarianism

Chinese Politics as Fragmented Authoritarianism PDF

Author: Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1317245407

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This book explores how far the concept of fragmented authoritarianism remains valid as the key concept for understanding how the Chinese political process works. It contrasts fragmented authoritarianism, which places bureaucratic bargaining at the centre of policy-making, arguing that the goals and interests of the implementing agencies have to be incorporated into a policy if implementation is to be secured, with other characterisations of China’s political process. Individual chapters consider fragmented authoritarianism at work in a range of key policy areas, including energy issues, climate change and environmental management, financial reform, and civil-military relations. The book also explores policy making at the national, provincial, city and local levels; debates how far the model of fragmented authoritarianism is valid in its current form or whether modifications are needed; and discusses whether the system of policy making and implementation is overcomplicated, unwieldy and ineffective or whether it is constructive in enabling widespread consultation and scope for imagination, flexibility and variation.

Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China

Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China PDF

Author: Kenneth G. Lieberthal

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2024-07-26

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 0520377230

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Using a model of "fragmented authoritarianism," this volume sharpens our view of the inner workings of the Chinese bureaucracy. The contributors' interviews with politically well-placed bureaucrats and scholars, along with documentary and field research, illuminate the bargaining and maneuvering among officials on the national, provincial, and local levels. CONTRIBUTORS:Nina P. HalpernCarol Lee HamrinDavid M. LamptonKenneth G. LieberthalMelanie ManionBarry NaughtonLynne PaineJonathan D. PollackSusan L. ShirkPaul E. SchroederAndrew G. WalderDavid Zweig This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

Populist Authoritarianism

Populist Authoritarianism PDF

Author: Wenfang Tang

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0190205784

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In Populist Authoritarianism Wenfang Tang develops a theory of why Chinese citizens support an authoritarian regime, employing a wealth of data taken from more than two decades' worth of national and cross national surveys. Although China has changed considerably on the surface in the post-Mao era, Tang points to notable continuity from the Chinese Communist Party's revolutionary experiences to its current governing style. He proposes a theoretical framework of "populist authoritarianism" which is characterized by Mass Line ideology accumulation of social capital, public political activism and contentious politics, a paranoid and hyper-responsive government, weak political and civic institutions and a high level of regime trust. The CCP currently enjoys strong public support but such a system is inherently vulnerable. Because drastic changes in public opinion cannot be filtered through political institutions such as elections and the rule of law, these changes can result in system wide political earthquakes. How is it, then that the Communist Party once led by Mao-which still adheres to the Marxist-Leninist and nationalist rhetoric of yore-continues to rule with little serious dissent? Marshaling the best evidence that is currently available populist Authoritarianism will reshape our understanding of why the Chinese regime persists despite decades of predictions of its demise.

China's Water Warriors

China's Water Warriors PDF

Author: Andrew C. Mertha

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2014-11-15

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0801462177

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Today opponents of large-scale dam projects in China, rather than being greeted with indifference or repression, are part of the hydropower policymaking process itself. What accounts for this dramatic change in this critical policy area surrounding China's insatiable quest for energy? In China's Water Warriors, Andrew C. Mertha argues that as China has become increasingly market driven, decentralized, and politically heterogeneous, the control and management of water has transformed from an unquestioned economic imperative to a lightning rod of bureaucratic infighting, societal opposition, and open protest. Although bargaining has always been present in Chinese politics, more recently the media, nongovernmental organizations, and other activists—actors hitherto denied a seat at the table—have emerged as serious players in the policy-making process. Drawing from extensive field research in some of the most remote parts of Southwest China, China's Water Warriors contains rich narratives of the widespread opposition to dams in Pubugou and Dujiangyan in Sichuan province and the Nu River Project in Yunnan province. Mertha concludes that the impact and occasional success of such grassroots movements and policy activism signal a marked change in China's domestic politics. He questions democratization as the only, or even the most illuminating, indicator of political liberalization in China, instead offering an informed and hopeful picture of a growing pluralization of the Chinese policy process as exemplified by hydropower politics. For the 2010 paperback edition, Mertha tests his conclusions against events in China since 2008, including the Olympics, the devastating 208 Wenchuan earthquake, and the Uighar and Tibetan protests of 2008 and 2009.

Critical Readings on the Communist Party of China (4 Vols. Set)

Critical Readings on the Communist Party of China (4 Vols. Set) PDF

Author: Kjeld Erik Brodsgaard

Publisher: Critical Readings

Published: 2016-11

Total Pages: 1580

ISBN-13: 9789004302167

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"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with nearly 90 million members, is the largest ruling political party in the world. Its power and influence reach into every corner of state, society and economy in China. Given the CCP's omnipresence, in-depth knowledge of how the CCP is organized and managed and how it will likely evolve is of paramount importance and is a basic prerequisite for understanding China's rise." -- Back cover

Consultative Democracy or Consultative Authoritarianism?

Consultative Democracy or Consultative Authoritarianism? PDF

Author: Rongxin Li

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-08-11

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 9811938695

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This book theorizes Chinese politics, specifically about China’s “deliberative democracy (xieshang minzhu 协商民主)”. Creating a China-West comparative framework, the author interrogates China's government's claims to give representation to citizens, allowing readers to see how all of these concepts interact within Chinese ideology, democratic discourse, and governance, and their relationship with Chinese authoritarianism. Above all, this book represents a sustained hybridization of political theory, one which is neither a simple democratic-authoritarian dichotomy, nor a reinterpretation of the official propaganda. This study will interest scholars of Chinese politics and statecraft, shedding light on an emergent discourse of the state – Chinese xieshang minzhu. More importantly, this book goes beyond a simple rhetorical and linguistic use of ‘deliberative democracy’ in the Western sense, and rather emphasizes the very consultative nature of Chinese politics, which facilitates and reconsolidates Chinese authoritarianism.

China's Governance Model

China's Governance Model PDF

Author: Hongyi Lai

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1317859529

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Many studies of government in China either simply describe the political institutions or else focus, critically, on the weaknesses of the system, such as corruption or the absence of Western-style democracy. Authors of these studies fail to appreciate the surprising ability of China’s government to rapidly transform a once impoverished economy and to recover from numerous crises from 1978 to the present. This book, on the other hand, takes a more balanced, more positive view. This view is based on a study of changes in China’s institutions for coping with critical crises in governance since 1978. These changes include better management of leadership succession, better crisis management, improved social welfare, the management of society through treating different social groups differently depending on their potential to rival the Party state, and a variety of limited, intra-party and grassroots democracy. This book applies to the Chinese model the term “pragmatic authoritarianism.” It explains changes to and the likely future direction of China’s governance model. It compares current risks in China’s governance with threats that terminated dynasties and the republic in China over the past four thousand years and concludes that the regime can be expected to survive a considerable period despite its existing flaws. "Few topics in Chinese politics are as significant as the nature, state and prospects of the political regime. While the topic had been unduly understudied for a long period of time, a young generation of scholars has emerged on this subject. Among others, the book by Hongyi Lai stands out and provides a comprehensive and penetrating analysis on this topic....I am confident that his book will make a significant contribution to the study of Chinese politics and may well define the debate on China’s political development, governance and model for years to come." - Yongnian Zheng, Director, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore

Politics in China Since 1949

Politics in China Since 1949 PDF

Author: Robert Weatherley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-01-24

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1134166575

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Since the victory of the 1949 revolution the incumbency of the Chinese Communist Party has been characterized by an almost relentless struggle to legitimize its monopoly on political power. During the Mao era, attempts to derive legitimacy focused primarily on mass participation in political affairs, a blend of Marxist and nationalist ideology, and the charismatic authority of Mao Zedong. The dramatic failure of the Cultural Revolution forced the post-Mao leadership to discard these discredited paradigms of legitimacy and move towards an almost exclusively performance based concept founded on market economic reform. The reforms during the 1980s generated a number of unwelcome but inevitable side effects such as official corruption, high unemployment and significant socio-economic inequality. These factors culminated ultimately in the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and throughout China. Since Tiananmen the party has sought to diversify the basis of its legitimacy by adhering more closely to constitutional procedures in decision making and, to a certain extent, by reinventing itself as a conservative nationalist party. This probing study of post-communist revolution Chinese politics sets out to discover if there is a plausible alternative to the electoral mode or if legitimacy is the exclusive domain of the multi-party system.

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