State–Society Relations and Governance in China

This volume brings together a group of essays by renowned China scholars examining a broad variety of state-society relations and governance issues in China. It is a cutting-edge volume addressing state-society relations from a theoretical, comparative, and historical perspective. -- Thomas Heberer, University Duisburg-Essen and Zhejiang University
Most classical political theory posits that the structure and policies of the government and state reflect underlying social realities. This, however, would not seem to be true of 'totalitarian' regimes. From 1949 into the early 1980s the social structure in China was in effect an artifact of the political system, dominated and shaped by the ruling elite according to the elite’s ideology and its evolving internal processes. Over the past generation and more Chinese society has become increasingly varied and complex; and while both the political and even social systems remain under the control of the Communist party, the Party itself has become more responsive to social interests and social interests have penetrated the structure and policies of the Party. China is developing a system different both from the previous totalitarian one and also from Euro-American pluralistic liberal democracy. This collection of studies by noted scholars of Chinese politics and political sociology traces the effects of the increased complexity of Chinese society and of state-societal interactions, making a valuable contribution to our understanding of contemporary Chinese politics and culture. -- Peter Moody, University of Notre Dame