Grassroots political reform in contemporary China

Bibliographic Information

Grassroots political reform in contemporary China

edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman

(Harvard contemporary China series, 14)

Harvard University Press, 2007

  • : cloth
  • : pbk

Available at  / 14 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: cloth ISBN 9780674024854

Description

Observers often note the glaring contrast between China's stunning economic progress and stalled political reforms. Although sustained growth in GNP has not brought democratization at the national level, this does not mean that the Chinese political system has remained unchanged. At the grassroots level, a number of important reforms have been implemented in the last two decades. This volume, written by scholars who have undertaken substantial fieldwork in China, explores a range of grassroots efforts - initiated by the state and society alike - intended to restrain arbitrary and corrupt official behaviour and enhance the accountability of local authorities. Topics include village and township elections, fiscal reforms, legal aid, media supervision, informal associations, and popular protests. While the authors offer varying assessments of the larger significance of these developments, their case studies point to a more dynamic Chinese political system than is often acknowledged. When placed in historical context - as in the Introduction - we see that reforms in local governance are hardly a new feature of Chinese political statecraft and that the future of these experiments is anything but certain.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction: Historical Reflections on Grassroots Political Reform in China Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman 2. Village Elections, Transparency, and Anticorruption: Henan and Guangdong Provinces Richard Levy 3. The Implementation of Village Elections and Tax-for-Fee Reform in Rural Northwest China John James Kennedy 4. Fiscal Crisis in China's Townships: Causes and Consequences Jean C. Oi and Zhao Shukai 5. Direct Township Elections Lianjiang Li 6. The Struggle for Village Public Goods Provision: Informal Institutions of Accountability in Rural China Lily L. Tsai 7. Inadvertent Political Reform via Private Associations: Assessing Homeowners' Groups in New Neighborhoods Benjamin L. Read 8. Civil Resistance and Rule of Law in China: The Defense of Homeowners' Rights Yongshun Cai 9. "Hope for Protection and Hopeless Choices": Labor Legal Aid in the PRC Mary E. Gallagher 10. Is Labor a Political Force in China? Ching Kwan Lee 11. Between Defiance and Obedience: Protest Opportunism in China Xi Chen 12. In Search of the Grassroots: Hydroelectric Politics in Northwest Yunnan Ralph Litzinger 13. Public Opinion Supervision: Possibilities and Limits of the Media in Constraining Local Officials Yuezhi Zhao and Sun Wusan Notes Contributors Acknowledgments
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780674024861

Description

Observers often note the glaring contrast between China's stunning economic progress and stalled political reforms. Although sustained growth in GNP has not brought democratization at the national level, this does not mean that the Chinese political system has remained unchanged. At the grassroots level, a number of important reforms have been implemented in the last two decades. This volume, written by scholars who have undertaken substantial fieldwork in China, explores a range of grassroots efforts--initiated by the state and society alike--intended to restrain arbitrary and corrupt official behavior and enhance the accountability of local authorities. Topics include village and township elections, fiscal reforms, legal aid, media supervision, informal associations, and popular protests. While the authors offer varying assessments of the larger significance of these developments, their case studies point to a more dynamic Chinese political system than is often acknowledged. When placed in historical context--as in the Introduction--we see that reforms in local governance are hardly a new feature of Chinese political statecraft and that the future of these experiments is anything but certain.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction: Historical Reflections on Grassroots Political Reform in China Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman 2. Village Elections, Transparency, and Anticorruption: Henan and Guangdong Provinces Richard Levy 3. The Implementation of Village Elections and Tax-for-Fee Reform in Rural Northwest China John James Kennedy 4. Fiscal Crisis in China's Townships: Causes and Consequences Jean C. Oi and Zhao Shukai 5. Direct Township Elections Lianjiang Li 6. The Struggle for Village Public Goods Provision: Informal Institutions of Accountability in Rural China Lily L. Tsai 7. Inadvertent Political Reform via Private Associations: Assessing Homeowners' Groups in New Neighborhoods Benjamin L. Read 8. Civil Resistance and Rule of Law in China: The Defense of Homeowners' Rights Yongshun Cai 9. "Hope for Protection and Hopeless Choices": Labor Legal Aid in the PRC Mary E. Gallagher 10. Is Labor a Political Force in China? Ching Kwan Lee 11. Between Defiance and Obedience: Protest Opportunism in China Xi Chen 12. In Search of the Grassroots: Hydroelectric Politics in Northwest Yunnan Ralph Litzinger 13. Public Opinion Supervision: Possibilities and Limits of the Media in Constraining Local Officials Yuezhi Zhao and Sun Wusan Notes Contributors Acknowledgments

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