ABSTRACT
The common viewpoint asserting a waning of the state has also reached China. The rapid transition from a totalitarian state controlling all aspects of social life to a state which has marketized the economy and which has met increasing difficulties in fulfilling its basic tasks (public order, collecting taxes and so on), has led many scholars to emphasize the decay of the Chinese state. Nonetheless, a new question has arisen: what is filling the void left by the so-called ‘waning state’? Some analysts believe that the socialist state can only be replaced by the victory of democracy and the market. The road to heaven will be a long and difficult one but China does not seem able to avoid the road leading to a modern world.1 According to other specialists the destiny of China may be far less positive. China could be undergoing a period of chaos comparable to other periods of Chinese history; the era of mafias and of jungle law could return to the middle kingdom.2 Yet none of these analyses seem to fit the complexity of post-reform China. The picture of a China ‘in transition’ to a situation in which private and public interests would be clearly separated is at odds with the systematic straddling between political and economic positions which Chinese society is witnessing. Not only does this straddling allow economic growth, it seems, to a certain extent, to have boosted economic development. As we will see, numerous scholars insist on the role of officials in the economic success. Identically, the picture of a stateless China is not in accordance with a society which proves to be relatively stable and prosperous. Even with the embezzlement of tax resources, the state treasury is far from being completely empty. Although most cadres seem corrupt and have set up efficient systems of protection for their activities, each year an increasing number of them are condemned and sometimes severely punished. Furthermore, while we have been witnessing the emergence of a strong local power for years, cadres who are too independent are systematically dismissed. Finally, although the economy seems to be plagued by extensive collusion between private and public positions of power, 1 See for example, Nee (1996). 2 For further information see Andrieu (1996).
