The Art of Political Control in China

Civil society groups can strengthen an autocratic state's coercive capacity, helping to suppress dissent and implement far-reaching policies.

Daniel C. Mattingly (Author)

9781108725361, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 5 December 2019

244 pages, 30 b/w illus. 1 map
15 x 23 x 1.5 cm, 0.41 kg

'The work can be recommended for students interested in the dynamics of sociopolitical aspects of China in the past decade.' Helen Xiaoyan Wu, Pacific Affairs

When and why do people obey political authority when it runs against their own interests to do so? This book is about the channels beyond direct repression through which China's authoritarian state controls protest and implements ambitious policies from sweeping urbanization schemes that have displaced millions to family planning initiatives like the one-child policy. Daniel C. Mattingly argues that China's remarkable state capacity is not simply a product of coercive institutions such as the secret police or the military. Instead, the state uses local civil society groups as hidden but effective tools of informal control to suppress dissent and implement far-reaching policies. Drawing on evidence from qualitative case studies, experiments, and national surveys, the book challenges the conventional wisdom that a robust civil society strengthens political responsiveness. Surprisingly, it is communities that lack strong civil society groups that find it easiest to act collectively and spontaneously resist the state.

1. Introduction
2. A theory of political control
3. The Communist Party's governance
4. Cultivating civil society
5. Co-optation
6. Infiltration
7. Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political structures: totalitarianism & dictatorship [JPHX], Comparative politics [JPB], Sociology [JHB]