1st Edition

Remaking the Chinese State Strategies, Society, and Security

Edited By Chao Chien-min, Bruce Dickson Copyright 2002
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    After more than twenty years of economic and political reform, China is a vastly different country to that left by Mao. Almost all the characteristic policies and practices of the Maoist era have been abandoned, with the goals of revolution in foreign and domestic policy being replaced by an emphasis on economic modernization, accompanied by radical social transformation and an increasingly significant international role. Yet, despite these dramatic changes other fundamental features of China's policy remain unchanged.
    This book explores the strategies of reform in China and their implications for its domestic and foreign policies. It challenges the misconceptions that no political reforms are taking place and that China is eagerly embracing capitalism. It also challenges the view that China does not abide by international norms and practices on military and security matters. Its contributors, all highly respected scholars, avoid simple generalisations about the nature of China's politics or future path, instead offering comparisons and contrasts between policy areas and regions to create a more complete picture of this complex country.

    Introduction: Remaking the Chinese state PART I Political strategies in the reform era 1 Rationalizing the Chinese state: The political economy of government reform 2 Reappraising central–local relations in Deng’s China: Decentralization, dilemmas of control, and diluted effects of reform 3 China’s agricultural reforms: A twenty-year retrospective PART II The social consequences of economic reform 4 Clashes between reform and opening: Labor market formation in three cities 5 The interdependence of state and society: The political sociology of local leadership 6 The reform of state-owned enterprises in mainland China: A societal perspective PART III Foreign policy and security issues 7 Reform and Chinese foreign policy 8 Twenty years of Chinese reform: The case of non-proliferation policy 9 Soldiers of fortune, soldiers of misfortune: Commercialization and divestiture of the Chinese military–business complex, 1978–99 10 Confidence-building measures and the People’s Liberation Army 11 The possibility of cross-Strait political negotiations

    Biography

    Chien-min Chao is Professor and Director of the Sun Yat-sen Graduate Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities at Chengchi University, Taiwan. He has published widely on Chinese politics. Bruce J. Dickson is Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Asian Studies Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs, and Associate Professor in Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University