ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the critical concept of governance which is used throughout this book. Related to this concept, it discusses the relevant theoretical literature on neoliberalism, illustrating a new way of governing urban development in late capitalism. The chapter also introduces the debate over neoliberal governance and its recent shift under austerity urbanism toward financialized governance and municipal statecraft. Further to this change, the chapter explains geographical variegation, especially informality in the Global South and the developmental and ‘property states’ in East Asia. The chapter then reviews the literature on governance in China and specific perspectives on the models of urban development, such as ‘land finance’ and ‘shareholder states,’ and contracting forms of neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics and authoritarianism. The chapter then depicts an overall picture of China’s urban governance as a mode of regulation to maintain ‘structural coherence.’ At the core of this mode is the concept of ‘state entrepreneurialism,’ which captures the salient feature of Chinese urban governance. State entrepreneurialism describes how the market is constructed as a political strategy to benefit class interests. In China, this is specifically deployed to solve capital accumulation crises—a survival strategy of the Chinese Communist Party.
