Looks at the rollout of one of the largest infrastructure programs in human history to show how local governments play a complex role. China's high-speed railway network is one of the largest infrastructure programs in human history. Despite global media coverage, we know very little about the political process that led the government to invest in the railway program and the reasons for the striking regional and temporal variation in such investments. In Localized Bargaining, Xiao Ma offers a novel theory of intergovernmental bargaining that explains the unfolding of China's unprecedented high-speed railway program. Drawing on a wealth of in-depth interviews, original data sets, and surveys with local officials, Ma details how the bottom-up bargaining efforts by territorial authorities--whom the central bureaucracies rely on to implement various infrastructure projects--shaped the allocation of investment in the railway system. Demonstrating how localities of different types invoke institutional and extra-institutional sources of bargaining power in their competition for railway stations, Ma sheds new light on how the nation's massive bureaucracy actually functions.

Looks at the rollout of one of the largest infrastructure programs in human history to show how local governments play a complex role. China's high-speed railway network is one of the largest infrastructure programs in human history. Despite global media coverage, we know very little about the political process that led the government to invest in the railway program and the reasons for the striking regional and temporal variation in such investments. In Localized Bargaining, Xiao Ma offers a novel theory of intergovernmental bargaining that explains the unfolding of China's unprecedented high-speed railway program. Drawing on a wealth of in-depth interviews, original data sets, and surveys with local officials, Ma details how the bottom-up bargaining efforts by territorial authoritieswhom the central bureaucracies rely on to implement various infrastructure projectsshaped the allocation of investment in the railway system. Demonstrating how localities of different types invoke institutional and extra-institutional sources of bargaining power in their competition for railway stations, Ma sheds new light on how the nation's massive bureaucracy actually functions.

This nuts-and-bolts handbook tells you the tools and tactics that set the most effective locals apart from the rest. The author gives you specific instructions on bargaining for pay, fringes, and other terms and conditions of employment. Summaries and checklists guide you through the process smoothly as you learn to: -- recognize strengths and weaknesses -- find your best strike and no-strike alternatives -- avoid impasse -- use third-party mediation, and more Coverage includes both traditional and win-win negotiations in union-employer situations ranging from manufacturing to the retail, service, and local government sectors. Whether you are on the bargaining committee for the first time or have years of experience, you will gain from the author's no-nonsense approach to efficient organization, planning, and negotiation.