The sinews of state power : the rise and demise of the cohesive local state in rural China /

The sinews of state power : the rise and demise of the cohesive local state in rural China /

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Wang, Juan, 1977- author.
Imprint:New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]
Description:xii, 243 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Local government -- China.
Central-local government relations -- China.
Central-local government relations.
Local government.
Politics and government.
Rural conditions.
China -- Rural conditions.
China -- Politics and government -- 2002-
China.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11457227
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780190605735
0190605731
9780190605759
9780190609511
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-232) and index.
Summary:"The Sinews of State Power seeks to explain why rural China has been so unstable since 2000, despite numerous national reforms. Using original fieldwork, it traces the rise and demise of cohesive local states in rural China since the Maoist era. It shows that, the county, township, and village levels of government, when in alliance, have facilitated economic growth and caused social grievances. However, national reforms redressing local deviation, together with individual responses from each level of administration, have dismantled elite alliances, and consequentially undermined the extractive, coercive, and responsive capacity of the state. This book forms dialogue with two fields of inquiry in China studies and comparative politics. First, researches on farmer protest often either focus on farmers' grievances, organizations, and strategies, or examine responses from the state as a uniform entity. This book, instead, highlights the anthropology of the state by looking into elite cohesion across administrative levels that determines the exercise of state capacity. Second, studies of regime stability or endurance have stressed holistic factors, such as institutional adaptability, political culture, or epidemic corruption. The Sinews of State Power instead revisits the fundamental components of a capable government - a coherent and robust local leadership that enables the function of a state."--
"Based on original fieldwork, The Sinews of State Power seeks to understand continuous rural instability in China despite national reforms in the post-2000s. It offers a fresh perspective by revisiting the fundamental components of a capable government -a coherent and robust local leadership, and tracing its rise and demise since the Maoist era"--
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction. The Basics of Government: Cohesive and Robust Local States
  • The Limits of State Adaptability and Local States
  • Locating the Local State
  • Elite Coherence and Its Conditions
  • Elite Alliances, Collusion, and Institutional Corruption
  • Conditions for Elite Cohesion and Incentives in Time
  • Research Methodology, Sources, and Organization
  • 1. Rural Government and Farmer Protest in Comparative Perspective
  • Protests and Riots in the Maoist Era
  • Reactive Farmer Protest
  • Explaining Farmer Protest
  • Protests and Petitions in the Reform Era
  • Reactive Farmer Protest
  • Explaining Farmer Protest
  • Protest Leaders after the Reform Era
  • Rural Activists
  • Village Cadres
  • Conclusion
  • 2. The Formation and Institutionalization of Intrastate Cohesion
  • The Making of New Elites: The Origins of Power and Survival
  • Rational Goals and the Origin of Power
  • Rational Mechanisms to Remain in Power
  • Structural Orientation and Personal Networks
  • Active Coordination and External Threats
  • Active Coordination
  • External Threats
  • Reforms in the 1980s and Remaining Memories: Survival and Material Benefits
  • Restructured Administration and Continuous Personnel
  • Political Reforms and the Rising Importance of Patronage
  • Institutionalization of Alliances in the 1990s: Local Interests and Personal Networks
  • The Stabilization of Leading Cadres and Local Interests
  • Interdependence and Networks within the Alliances
  • Conclusion
  • 3. The Changes and Continuity of Local State Cohesion
  • Alliance of Survival during the Maoist Era
  • Alliance of Benefits in the 1980s
  • Forced Implementation of National Policies
  • Rural Industrialization and Collective Deviation
  • Distinctive Localism and Collective Deviation in the 1990s
  • Organizational Expansion
  • Excessive and Arbitrary Extraction from Society
  • Covering Up for Each Other
  • Run-on Debts
  • Conclusion
  • 4. Dismantling the Local State: The Isolated Village Cadres
  • The Structural Origin of Isolated Villages
  • Fiscal Reforms: Emergence of a County Leviathan
  • Further Changes from Within
  • Abandoned Villages
  • Scapegoating of Village Cadres
  • Diverging Interests among Elites and Their Reproduction
  • Institutional Changes and Unexpected Scapegoats
  • Case Studies: Sichuan versus Jiangsu
  • County-Township Fiscal Arrangements
  • Village Affairs
  • Conclusion
  • 5. Implications: Declining Coercive and Extractive Capacities of the State
  • Declining Coercive Capacity in Maintaining Order
  • Village Cadres Respond
  • Towns and Counties: The Cat-and-Mouse Game
  • Declining Extractive Capacities and Tax Games
  • At the County Level: Individual Agendas and Economic Policies
  • At the Township Level: The Illegal Tax Trade and the Accounting Game
  • Case Studies: Sichuan versus Jiangsu
  • Discontented Village Cadres and Their Responses
  • State-Business Relations and Taxation
  • Conclusion
  • Conclusion
  • The Emergence of a Critical Juncture and Institutional Change
  • A Critical Juncture
  • Institutional Change
  • The Broader Implications of the China Case
  • Transformation in Contentious Relationships
  • Incentives in Time
  • Appendix 1. Methodology
  • Appendix 2. Main Survey Questions
  • Appendix 3. Main Interviewees
  • Notes
  • References
  • Index

Similar Items