Many studies of government in China either simply describe the political institutions or else focus, critically, on the weaknesses of the system, such as corruption or the absence of Western-style democracy. Authors of these studies fail to appreciate the surprising ability of China’s government to rapidly transform a once impoverished economy and to recover from numerous crises from 1978 to the present. This book, on the other hand, takes a more balanced, more positive view. This view is based on a study of changes in China’s institutions for coping with critical crises in governance since 1978. These changes include better management of leadership succession, better crisis management, improved social welfare, the management of society through treating different social groups differently depending on their potential to rival the Party state, and a variety of limited, intra-party and grassroots democracy. This book applies to the Chinese model the term “pragmatic authoritarianism.” It explains changes to and the likely future direction of China’s governance model. It compares current risks in China’s governance with threats that terminated dynasties and the republic in China over the past four thousand years and concludes that the regime can be expected to survive a considerable period despite its existing flaws. "Few topics in Chinese politics are as significant as the nature, state and prospects of the political regime. While the topic had been unduly understudied for a long period of time, a young generation of scholars has emerged on this subject. Among others, the book by Hongyi Lai stands out and provides a comprehensive and penetrating analysis on this topic....I am confident that his book will make a significant contribution to the study of Chinese politics and may well define the debate on China’s political development, governance and model for years to come." - Yongnian Zheng, Director, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore

This book provides an all-round analysis and exploration of the course, status quo and future of the Chinese Government's governance reform under the framework of government governance modernization. The authors bring their decades of experience in crafting policy in China to explain the relationship between China's government and market, between government and society, between the central government and local governments, functional transformation, organizational structure optimization, reform of public institutions, allocation of fiscally supported personnel, the building of a law-based government and other major issues, while also laying out a case for structural changes in the years to come.

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.

This book elucidates fundamental governance features and issues in contemporary China. While especially focusing on principal governance areas, it offers comprehensive coverage, capturing the dynamics of governance across vertical and horizontal connexions. The book is succinctly written and systematically addresses essential governance aspects that to date have only been dealt with separately and sporadically: state governance, the executive branch and administration, organization of production and approaches to production, and governance conventions and protocols. Further, it examines the evolution of governance practice in terms of both political and legal superstructure and economic base/infrastructure. Adopting a purely analytical approach and making no value judgments on the country’s social institutions and political systems, the book offers a vital resource to help readers grasp the complexities of governance in China.

The apparent contradiction between China's rapid economic reforms and political authoritarianism is much debated by scholars of comparative political economy. This is the first examination of this issue through the impact of a series of administrative reforms intended to promote government transparency and increase public participation in China.

China has traveled a unique road to reach its present economic significance in the world with corporate governance central to political and economic policy. In Understanding Corporate Governance in China, Bob Tricker and Gregg Li look at a variety of companies in China and the challenges they face. Based on in-depth interviews with business leaders, entrepreneurs, auditors, bankers, lawyers, and others closely involved in corporate governance in China, they argue that corporate governance involves more than company law, governance guidelines, and the rules of the stock exchanges and regulatory authorities. Culture and ethics lie at the core of corporate governance. In Chinese business these are still evolving, and business-government relations continue to change. It is vital to understand how business people and officials act in practice in China. They also explain how the regulatory framework of corporate governance in Hong Kong increases the sophistication. As more and more companies based in mainland China are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and increasingly dominate the Hong Kong market, the business worlds of China and Hong Kong become intertwined and grow together. After a brief introduction to the basic theories of corporate governance and the evolution of corporate governance in China, the book guides the reader through current issues and practices in both mainland China and Hong Kong. Topics like Chinese culture and ethics, the regulatory corporate governance framework in mainland China and Hong Kong, the function and practice of the board of directors in China, and the governance of Chinese companies abroad are covered.

Drawing on more than a decade of fieldwork, The Logic of Governance in China develops a unified theoretical framework to explain how China's centralized political system maintains governance and how this process produces recognizable policy cycles that are obstacles to bureaucratic rationalization, professionalism, and rule of law. The book is unique for the overarching framework it develops; one that sheds light on the interconnectedness among apparently disparate phenomena such as the mobilizational state, bureaucratic muddling through, collusive behaviors, variable coupling between policymaking and implementation, inverted soft budget constraints, and collective action based on unorganized interests. An exemplary combination of theory-motivated fieldwork and empirically-informed theory development, this book offers an in-depth analysis of the institutions and mechanisms in the governance of China.