Marketization and Democracy in China

by Zhang; Jianjun

• ISBN13: 9780415452229
• ISBN10: 0415452228
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Since China began an era of market reform three decades ago, many Westerners believed that, political liberalization and, eventually, democracy would follow. However, contrary to Western expectations, China remains an authoritarian country and the communist party is still in power, even though the country has witnessed rapid economic growth and its people have become richer. In Marketization and Democracy in China, Jianjun Zhang questions whether China's market reforms have created favorable social conditions for democracy, whether the country's emerging entrepreneurial class will serve as the democratic social base, and the role of government in the process of transition. Based upon a careful analysis of two regions-Sunan and Wenzhou -the two prototypical local development patterns in China, Zhang finds that different patterns of economic development have produced distinct local-level social and political configurations, only one of which is likely to foster the growth ofdemocratic practices. The results suggest that China's political future is largely dependent upon the emerging class structure and offer a warning on China's development: if market reforms and economic development only enrich a few, then democratic transition will be unlikely. Marketization and Democracy in China will be of interest to scholars of Chinese politics, political science and development studies.

Author Biography

Jianjun Zhang is Assistant Professor in Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, China.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. x
Acknowledgments	p. xii
Abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Definition of marketization and democracy	p. 4
Capitalist development, class, and democracy	p. 5
Entrepreneurial class and political change	p. 11
Introducing class structure/inequality into analysis	p. 14
Government and democracy	p. 17
Selection of the research sites	p. 18
Arrangement of the book	p. 21
Development patterns and the evolution of property rights	p. 25
Emergence of the two development patterns	p. 27
Government-led development in Sunan	p. 27
Entrepreneur-initiated development in Wenzhou	p. 37
Summary	p. 49
Changing power relations	p. 51
Power concentration in Sunan	p. 51
Power dispersion in Wenzhou	p. 64
Summary	p. 73
Manipulated versus transparent privatization of TVEs	p. 74
Manipulated privatization in Sunan	p. 74
Transparent privatization in Wenzhou	p. 90
Summary	p. 97
Class structure and elite relations	p. 99
Polarized versus flat class structure	p. 101
Polarized class structure in Sunan	p. 101
Flat class structure in Wenzhou	p. 114
Summary	p. 123
Elite relations in post-privatization Sunan	p. 124
From supervising enterprises to serving enterprises: changing roles of officials	p. 124
From "party secretaries chose managers" to "business owners choose party secretaries": rising influence of wealth	p. 136
Elite collusion	p. 143
Summary	p. 145
Changing elite relations in Wenzhou	p. 146
Laissez-faire state became active	p. 147
Growing entrepreneurial class	p. 155
Elite competition	p. 167
Summary	p. 169
Political consequences	p. 171
Top-down versus bottom-up business associations	p. 173
Government-organized associations in Sunan	p. 174
Bottom-up associations in Wenzhou	p. 179
A brief explanation of the different practices	p. 194
Controlled versus competitive village elections	p. 196
Controlled village elections in Sunan	p. 197
Competitive village elections in Wenzhou	p. 206
Brief explanation of the differences	p. 220
Conclusion	p. 222
Economic development, class structure/inequality, and democracy	p. 222
Development patterns and class structure/inequality	p. 228
Government and democracy	p. 230
Conditions for democracy	p. 231
Implications for China's political future	p. 233
Some remaining questions	p. 238
Research methodology	p. 241
List of informants	p. 244
Notes	p. 253
Bibliography	p. 260
Index	p. 270
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.