To Govern China
Evolving Practices of Power

This book presents a uniquely dynamic and fluid model of political evolution in the world's largest and most powerful authoritarian regime.

Vivienne Shue (Edited by), Patricia M. Thornton (Edited by)

9781107193529, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 October 2017

334 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.59 kg

'This volume argues it is high time to move beyond transitology and authoritarian resilience in the study of Chinese politics. It offers a thoughtful critique of the focus on institutions and proposes a more dynamic, fluid, and 'braided' conceptualization of political change.' Lisa Hoffman, University of Washington, Tacoma

How, practically speaking, is the Chinese polity - as immense and fissured as it has now become - actually being governed today? Some analysts highlight signs of 'progress' in the direction of more liberal, open, and responsive rule. Others dwell instead on the many remaining 'obstacles' to a hoped-for democratic transition. Drawing together cutting-edge research from an international panel of experts, this volume argues that both those approaches rest upon too starkly drawn distinctions between democratic and non-democratic 'regime types', and concentrate too narrowly on institutions as opposed to practices. The prevailing analytical focus on adaptive and resilient authoritarianism - a neo-institutionalist concept - fails to capture what are often cross-cutting currents in ongoing processes of political change. Illuminating a vibrant repertoire of power practices employed in governing China today, these authors advance instead a more fluid, open-ended conceptual approach that privileges nimbleness, mutability, and receptivity to institutional and procedural invention and evolution.

Introduction: beyond implicit political dichotomies and linear models of change in China Vivienne Shue and Patricia M. Thornton
Part I. Leadership Practices: 1. Cultural governance in contemporary China: 're-orienting' party propaganda Elizabeth J. Perry
2. China's core executive in economic policy: pursuing national agendas in a fragmented polity Sebastian Heilmann
3. Maps, dreams, and the trails to heaven: envisioning a future Chinese nation-space Vivienne Shue
Part II. People's Government: 4. 'Mass supervision' and the bureaucratization of governance in China Joel Andreas and Yige Dong
5. Shared fictions and informal politics in China Robert P. Weller
Part III. Expedients of the Local State: Bargains and Deals: 6. Seeing like a grassroots state: producing power and instability in China's bargained authoritarianism Ching Kwan Lee and Yong Hong Zhang
7. Finding China's urban: bargained land conversions, local assemblages, and fragmented urbanization Luigi Tomba
Part IV. Governance of the Individual and Techniques of the Self: 8. Governing from the middle? Understanding the making of China's middle classes Jean-Louis Rocca
9. A new urban underclass? Making and managing 'vulnerable groups' in contemporary China Patricia M. Thornton
10. The policy innovation imperative: changing techniques for governing China's local governors Christian Göbel and Thomas Heberer.

Subject Areas: Government powers [LNDH], Central government policies [JPQB], Political structures: totalitarianism & dictatorship [JPHX], Political structures: democracy [JPHV]