State and Social Protests in China

This Element explores the government response to protests in China, and its consequences for the mobilization of collective action.

Yongshun Cai (Author), Chih-Jou Jay Chen (Author)

9781108987301, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 December 2022

75 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 0.5 cm, 0.14 kg

China has witnessed numerous incidents of social protests over the past three decades. Protests create uncertainty for authoritarian governments, and the Chinese government has created, strengthened, and coordinated multiple dispute-resolution institutions to manage social conflicts and protests. Accommodating the aggrieved prevents the accumulation of grievances in society, but concessions require resources. As the frequency and scale of collective action are closely tied to the political opportunity for action, the Chinese government has also contained protest by shaping the political opportunity available to the aggrieved. Cai and Chen show that when the Chinese central government prioritizes social control, as it has under Xi Jinping's leadership, it signals that it will tolerate local governments' use of coercion. The result is an environment that is not conducive to the mobilization of collective action, large-scale occurrences of which have been uncommon in China in recent years.

1. Introduction
2. Protests as Challenges to Authoritarian Regimes
3. Conflict Management in China
4. Opportunity for Collective Action in China
5. Social Protests in China
6. Applying Coercion
7. Understanding Contention and Stability in China
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Demonstrations & protest movements [JPWF], Regional government [JPR], Central government [JPQ], Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Political structure & processes [JPH]