Changing Central-local Relations In China

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the profound changes in Chinas central-local relations since the late 1970s. Lending insight into a crucial component of Chinas current political economy and the transformation of state socialism, the contributors challenge conventional wisdom that state power rests in the traditional dichotomy of state versus society. Arguing that the state itself is fragmenting, the contributors predict that if this trend continues, a regime transformation will be hard to suppress. Since the late 1970s, the center-periphery dynamic in China has undergone profound changes: Major resources have shifted from the center to provinces and localities, central control over policymaking and implementation has been reduced, the traditional emphasis on regional balance has been replaced by greater regional and sectoral diversity, and more actors have become involved in the central-local interplay. Written by U.S.-trained Chinese scholars, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of a crucial component of Chinas current political economy and the transformation of state socialism.Paying special attention to the ways in which reform and state capacity affect each other, the contributors challenge conventional wisdom by dismissing the traditional dichotomy of state versus society as the ultimate test of the states power in China.
Instead, they suggest that since the reform era, the level of Chinas state capacity has been influenced more by the centers ability to maintain coherence among the rank and file than by its dominance over society. The most important consequence of Chinas reform process so far has not been the creation of an independent, self-sustaining society capable of competing with the state monopoly but rather the dramatic degradation of the level of coherence within the state itself. Although uneven and not necessarily irreversible, the trend toward a more fragmented state system and increasing independence among subnational actors has resulted in the serious erosion of state capacity in China. The contributors further argue that if the current trend continues, a regime transformation will be hard to suppress.