ABSTRACT

After more than twenty years of economic and political reform, China is a vastly different country to that left by Mao. Almost all the characteristic policies and practices of the Maoist era have been abandoned, with the goals of revolution in foreign and domestic policy being replaced by an emphasis on economic modernization, accompanied by radical social transformation and an increasingly significant international role. Yet, despite these dramatic changes other fundamental features of China's policy remain unchanged.
This book explores the strategies of reform in China and their implications for its domestic and foreign policies. It challenges the misconceptions that no political reforms are taking place and that China is eagerly embracing capitalism. It also challenges the view that China does not abide by international norms and practices on military and security matters. Its contributors, all highly respected scholars, avoid simple generalisations about the nature of China's politics or future path, instead offering comparisons and contrasts between policy areas and regions to create a more complete picture of this complex country.

chapter |16 pages

Introduction

Remaking the Chinese state

part I|84 pages

Political strategies in the reform era

chapter 1|27 pages

Rationalizing the Chinesestate

The political economy of government reform

chapter 2|30 pages

Reappraising central—local relations in Deng's China

Decentralization, dilemmas of control, and diluted effects of reform

chapter 3|25 pages

China's agricultural reforms

A twenty-year retrospective

part II|68 pages

The social consequences of economic reform

chapter 4|29 pages

Clashes between reform and opening

Labor market formation in three cities

chapter 5|25 pages

The interdependence ofstate and society

The political sociology of local leadership

chapter 6|12 pages

The reform of state-owned enterprises in mainland China

A societal perspective

part III|110 pages

Foreign policy and security issues

chapter 7|19 pages

Reform and Chinese foreign policy

chapter 8|14 pages

Twenty years of Chinese reform

The case of non-proliferation policy

chapter 9|24 pages

Soldiers of fortune, soldiers of misfortune

Commercialization and divestiture of the Chinese military-business complex, 1978–99