Political Reform in Post-Mao China

Political Reform in Post-Mao China PDF Author: Barrett L. McCormick
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520304861
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
After the death of Mao, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party embarked on a series of ambitious political reforms. Barrett L. McCormick develops a theory of Leninist states to explore the prospects for these reforms. He finds that, although the Chinese people have made significant economic and political gains, the basic contours of the state remain unchanged, and as events in June 1989 clearly showed, reform has not diminished the state’s ability to impose its prerogatives on society. Drawing on Weber’s political sociology, McCormick argues that patronage and corruption are integral aspects of Leninist rulership. Reformers have attempted to promote democracy and law and to fight corruption, but when they attempt to implement their programs through traditional hierarchical Leninist institutions, lower-level cadres have been able to utilize patronage networks to blunt the impact of reform and protect their personal agendas. In his case studies of the legal system, the people’s congress, and party rectification, McCormick points up these obstacles to progressive change and assesses the extent to which reformers’ goals have been realized. He shows that, despite the often radical nature of the reform movements, the principal dimensions of the Leninist system—one party rule, state domination of the economy, a confining ideology—remain largely intact. These findings will be of interest to China specialists as well as students of comparative communism and Leninist states. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

Political Reform in Post-Mao China

Political Reform in Post-Mao China PDF Author: Barrett L. McCormick
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520304861
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Get Book Here

Book Description
After the death of Mao, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party embarked on a series of ambitious political reforms. Barrett L. McCormick develops a theory of Leninist states to explore the prospects for these reforms. He finds that, although the Chinese people have made significant economic and political gains, the basic contours of the state remain unchanged, and as events in June 1989 clearly showed, reform has not diminished the state’s ability to impose its prerogatives on society. Drawing on Weber’s political sociology, McCormick argues that patronage and corruption are integral aspects of Leninist rulership. Reformers have attempted to promote democracy and law and to fight corruption, but when they attempt to implement their programs through traditional hierarchical Leninist institutions, lower-level cadres have been able to utilize patronage networks to blunt the impact of reform and protect their personal agendas. In his case studies of the legal system, the people’s congress, and party rectification, McCormick points up these obstacles to progressive change and assesses the extent to which reformers’ goals have been realized. He shows that, despite the often radical nature of the reform movements, the principal dimensions of the Leninist system—one party rule, state domination of the economy, a confining ideology—remain largely intact. These findings will be of interest to China specialists as well as students of comparative communism and Leninist states. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms

The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms PDF Author: Merle Goldman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674654532
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
China's bold program of reforms launched in the late 1970s--the move to a market economy and the opening to the outside world--ended the political chaos and economic stagnation of the Cultural Revolution and sparked China's unprecedented economic boom. Yet, while the reforms made possible a rising standard of living for the majority of China's population, they came at the cost of a weakening central government, increasing inequalities, and fragmenting society. The essays of Barry Naughton, Joseph Fewsmith, Paul H. B. Godwin, Murray Scot Tanner, Lianjiang Li and Kevin J. O'Brien, Tianjian Shi, Martin King Whyte, Thomas P. Bernstein, Dorothy J. Solinger, David S. G. Goodman, Kristen Parris, Merle Goldman, Elizabeth J. Perry, and Richard Baum and Alexei Shevchenko analyze the contradictory impact of China's economic reforms on its political system and social structure. They explore the changing patterns of the relationship between state and society that may have more profound significance for China than all the revolutionary movements that have convulsed it through most of the twentieth century.

A Social History of Maoist China

A Social History of Maoist China PDF Author: Felix Wemheuer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107123704
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
This new social history of Maoist China provides an accessible view of the complex and tumultuous period when China came under Communist rule.

China's Second Revolution

China's Second Revolution PDF Author: Harry Harding
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815734611
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
"A study produced in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations." Includes bibliographical references and index.

Reforming Mao's State

Reforming Mao's State PDF Author: Ju Wu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description


China's Enterprise Reform

China's Enterprise Reform PDF Author: You Ji
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134728816
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
China's basic work units, collectively known as the danwei system, have undergone significant reform, particularly since 1984. The author examines how this system operates and how reform is generating change in the party at grassroots level. The author demonstrates how China's post-Mao reforms have produced a quiet revolution from below as the process of political and economic liberalization has accelerated. This book presents new research findings that will be invaluable to those wishing to understand the nature of change in China.

China Under Mao

China Under Mao PDF Author: Andrew G. Walder
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674286707
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
China’s Communist Party seized power in 1949 after a long period of guerrilla insurgency followed by full-scale war, but the Chinese revolution was just beginning. China Under Mao narrates the rise and fall of the Maoist revolutionary state from 1949 to 1976—an epoch of startling accomplishments and disastrous failures, steered by many forces but dominated above all by Mao Zedong. “Walder convincingly shows that the effect of Maoist inequalities still distorts China today...[It] will be a mind-opening book for many (and is a depressing reminder for others).” —Jonathan Mirsky, The Spectator “Andrew Walder’s account of Mao’s time in power is detailed, sophisticated and powerful...Walder takes on many pieces of conventional wisdom about Mao’s China and pulls them apart...What was it that led so much of China’s population to follow Mao’s orders, in effect to launch a civil war against his own party? There is still much more to understand about the bond between Mao and the wider population. As we try to understand that bond, there will be few better guides than Andrew Walder’s book. Sober, measured, meticulous in every deadly detail, it is an essential assessment of one of the world’s most important revolutions.” —Rana Mitter, Times Literary Supplement

How China Became Capitalist

How China Became Capitalist PDF Author: R. Coase
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137019379
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
How China Became Capitalist details the extraordinary, and often unanticipated, journey that China has taken over the past thirty five years in transforming itself from a closed agrarian socialist economy to an indomitable economic force in the international arena. The authors revitalise the debate around the rise of the Chinese economy through the use of primary sources, persuasively arguing that the reforms implemented by the Chinese leaders did not represent a concerted attempt to create a capitalist economy, and that it was 'marginal revolutions' that introduced the market and entrepreneurship back to China. Lessons from the West were guided by the traditional Chinese principle of 'seeking truth from facts'. By turning to capitalism, China re-embraced her own cultural roots. How China Became Capitalist challenges received wisdom about the future of the Chinese economy, warning that while China has enormous potential for further growth, the future is clouded by the government's monopoly of ideas and power. Coase and Wang argue that the development of a market for ideas which has a long and revered tradition in China would be integral in bringing about the Chinese dream of social harmony.

Science and Technology in Post-Mao China

Science and Technology in Post-Mao China PDF Author: Denis Fred Simon
Publisher: Harvard Univ Asia Center
ISBN: 9780674794757
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
Along with the political and economic reforms that have characterized the post-Mao era in China there has been a potentially revolutionary change in Chinese science and technology. Here sixteen scholars examine various facets of the current science and technology scene, comparing it with the past and speculating about future trends. Two chapters dealing with science under the Nationalists and under Mao are followed by a section of extensive analysis of reforms under Deng Xiaoping, focusing on the organizational system, the use of human resources, and the emerging response to market forces. Chapters dealing with changes in medical care, agriculture, and military research and development demonstrate how these reforms have affected specific areas during the Chinese shift away from Party orthodoxy and Maoist populism toward professional expertise as the guiding principle in science and technology. Three further chapters deal with China's interface with the world at large in the process of technology transfer. Both the introductory and concluding chapters describe the tension between the Chinese Communist Party structure, with its inclinations toward strict vertical control, and the scientific and technological community's need for a free flow of information across organizational, disciplinary, and national boundaries.

Afterlives of Chinese Communism

Afterlives of Chinese Communism PDF Author: Christian Sorace
Publisher: ANU Press
ISBN: 1760462497
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
Afterlives of Chinese Communism comprises essays from over fifty world- renowned scholars in the China field, from various disciplines and continents. It provides an indispensable guide for understanding how the Mao era continues to shape Chinese politics today. Each chapter discusses a concept or practice from the Mao period, what it attempted to do, and what has become of it since. The authors respond to the legacy of Maoism from numerous perspectives to consider what lessons Chinese communism can offer today, and whether there is a future for the egalitarian politics that it once promised.