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Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China

Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China

Paperback

Series: Harvard Contemporary China, Book 14

Chinese HistoryGeneral Political ScienceSocial Movements

ISBN10: 0674024869
ISBN13: 9780674024861
Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr
Published: Mar 1 2007
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.21
Height: 1.01 Width: 6.35 Depth: 8.96
Language: English

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.

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Chinese History