Consultative Democracy Or Consultative Authoritarianism

This book theorizes Chinese politics, specifically about China’s “deliberative democracy (xieshang minzhu 协商民主)”. Creating a China-West comparative framework, the author interrogates China's government's claims to give representation to citizens, allowing readers to see how all of these concepts interact within Chinese ideology, democratic discourse, and governance, and their relationship with Chinese authoritarianism. Above all, this book represents a sustained hybridization of political theory, one which is neither a simple democratic-authoritarian dichotomy, nor a reinterpretation of the official propaganda. This study will interest scholars of Chinese politics and statecraft, shedding light on an emergent discourse of the state – Chinese xieshang minzhu. More importantly, this book goes beyond a simple rhetorical and linguistic use of ‘deliberative democracy’ in the Western sense, and rather emphasizes the very consultative nature of Chinese politics, which facilitates and reconsolidates Chinese authoritarianism.

Civil Society under Authoritarianism takes a fresh look at civil society in China, analyzing the nuanced and dynamic relationship between civil society and government officials.

This thought-provoking book explores the functions of charitable foundations in the People's Republic of China. Using both empirical fieldwork and extensive textual analysis, it examines the role of foundations in Chinese society and their relationship with the Chinese government, and provides a new, functional perspective on the role of foundations, complementing mainstream civil society and corporatist perspectives.

What does it mean for the future of the planet when one of the world’s most durable authoritarian governance systems pursues “ecological civilization”? Despite its staggering pollution and colossal appetite for resources, China exemplifies a model of state-led environmentalism which concentrates decisive political, economic, and epistemic power under centralized leadership. On the face of it, China seems to embody hope for a radical new approach to environmental governance. In this thought-provoking book, Yifei Li and Judith Shapiro probe the concrete mechanisms of China’s coercive environmentalism to show how ‘going green’ helps the state to further other agendas such as citizen surveillance and geopolitical influence. Through top-down initiatives, regulations, and campaigns to mitigate pollution and environmental degradation, the Chinese authorities also promote control over the behavior of individuals and enterprises, pacification of borderlands, and expansion of Chinese power and influence along the Belt and Road and even into the global commons. Given the limited time that remains to mitigate climate change and protect millions of species from extinction, we need to consider whether a green authoritarianism can show us the way. This book explores both its promises and risks.

How China's political model could prove to be a viable alternative to Western democracy Westerners tend to divide the political world into "good" democracies and “bad” authoritarian regimes. But the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has evolved a political system that can best be described as “political meritocracy.” The China Model seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of this unique political system. How do the ideals of political meritocracy set the standard for evaluating political progress (and regress) in China? How can China avoid the disadvantages of political meritocracy? And how can political meritocracy best be combined with democracy? Daniel Bell answers these questions and more. Opening with a critique of “one person, one vote” as a way of choosing top leaders, Bell argues that Chinese-style political meritocracy can help to remedy the key flaws of electoral democracy. He discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy, distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable. Bell summarizes and evaluates the “China model”—meritocracy at the top, experimentation in the middle, and democracy at the bottom—and its implications for the rest of the world. A timely and original book that will stir up interest and debate, The China Model looks at a political system that not only has had a long history in China, but could prove to be the most important political development of the twenty-first century.

Provides an innovative theory of regime transitions and outcomes, and tests it using extensive evidence between 1800 and today.