Description
Book SynopsisObservers often note the glaring contrast between China's economic progress and its stalled political reforms. This volume, written by experienced scholars, explores a range of grassroots effortsinitiated by the state and society aliketo restrain corrupt behavior and enhance the accountability of local authorities.
Trade ReviewThis volume indicates the nature of political reform and protest that have accompanied China’s rapid economic development of recent years. In 12 chapters, 14 social scientists from North America, Hong Kong, and China report on a variety of grassroots efforts designed to restrain arbitrary and corrupt official behavior, and to make local government officials more accountable to the public. Based on fieldwork conducted throughout China, the scholars examine cases of village and township elections, fiscal problems of local government, traditional local social institutions, homeowners’ groups, legal aid, labor, and environmental protest, as well as opportunities and limitations on media reporting of official behavior...The volume provides fascinating material on the dynamics of grassroots protests, and is an able companion to Kevin J. O’Brien and Linjiang Li’s
Rightful Resistance in Rural China. -- G.A. McBeath * Choice *
Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman’s new edited volume on grassroots political reform offers a wide-ranging look at local-level governance issues in China today. The collection’s clear strengths are both its scope and the strong empirical work of its contributors. The individual chapters attest to extensive field research, where impressive research access has enabled innovative and careful research designs, yielding new and provocative insights into local politics change in China today. -- Amy Hanser * Pacific Affairs *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction: Historical Reflections on Grassroots Political Reform in China Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman 2. Village Elections, Transparency, and Anticorruption: Henan and Guangdong Provinces Richard Levy 3. The Implementation of Village Elections and Tax-for-Fee Reform in Rural Northwest China John James Kennedy 4. Fiscal Crisis in China's Townships: Causes and Consequences Jean C. Oi and Zhao Shukai 5. Direct Township Elections Lianjiang Li 6. The Struggle for Village Public Goods Provision: Informal Institutions of Accountability in Rural China Lily L. Tsai 7. Inadvertent Political Reform via Private Associations: Assessing Homeowners' Groups in New Neighborhoods Benjamin L. Read 8. Civil Resistance and Rule of Law in China: The Defense of Homeowners' Rights Yongshun Cai 9. "Hope for Protection and Hopeless Choices": Labor Legal Aid in the PRC Mary E. Gallagher 10. Is Labor a Political Force in China? Ching Kwan Lee 11. Between Defiance and Obedience: Protest Opportunism in China Xi Chen 12. In Search of the Grassroots: Hydroelectric Politics in Northwest Yunnan Ralph Litzinger 13. Public Opinion Supervision: Possibilities and Limits of the Media in Constraining Local Officials Yuezhi Zhao and Sun Wusan Notes Contributors Acknowledgments
