ABSTRACT
The basic theme of this book is twofold. First, it explains the institutionalization of the Provincial People’s Congresses (PPCs) in China, as well as its contextual causes and institutional triggers over the past quarter century. Here the PPCs are treated as a dependent variable. The dynamic and farreaching changes in the economy, the carefully chosen developmental state strategy, and the political context of a single dominant party constituted both the necessity and the possibility for change of the PPCs. These factors also defined the course and style of institutional evolution within the PPCs. Induced by the above-mentioned changes and encouraged by the visionary political entrepreneurs of the NPC (National People’s Congress) system, the local leaders within the PPCs as well as other sub-national PCs have carefully crafted institutional and personnel changes within the PC system. The secret for their successful accumulation of respect and expansion of power lies primarily in a resourceful repertoire of strategies for institution building and tactics for waging power.
