Responsive Authoritarianism in China: Land

244 Pages·2016·2.767 MB·English

by  China. Guo wu yuan.;China. Quan guo ren min dai biao da hui.;Heurlin, Christopher

ResponsiveAuthoritarianisminChina
Howcanprotestsinfluencepolicymakinginarepressivedictatorship?
Responsive Authoritarianism in China sheds light on this important
question through case studies of land takings and demolitions – two
ofthemostexplosiveissuesincontemporaryChina.Intheearly2000s,
landless farmers and evictees unleashed waves of disruptive protests.
Surprisingly, the Chinese government responded by adopting wide-
ranging policy changes that addressed many of the protesters’
grievances. Heurlin traces policy changes from local protests in the
provinces to the halls of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in
Beijing.Insodoing,hehighlightstheinterplaybetweenlocalprotests,
stateinstitutions,andelitepolitics.Heshowsthatthemuch-maligned
petitioning system actually plays an important role in elevating
protesters’ concerns to the policy-making agenda. Delving deep into
thepolicy-makingprocess,thisbookillustrateshowtheStateCouncil
and NPC have become battlegrounds for conflicts between ministries
andlocalgovernmentsoverstatepolicies.
ChristopherHeurlinisAssistantProfessorintheGovernmentandLegal
Studies Departmentand Asian Studies Program at BowdoinCollege in
Brunswick, Maine. He earned a B.A. from Carleton College and a Ph.
D.inPoliticalSciencefromtheUniversityofWashington.Hisresearch
has been supported by the National Science Foundation. He has
published articles in German Politics and VOLUNTAS: International
JournalofVoluntaryandNonprofitOrganizations.

Responsive Authoritarianism in China
Land, Protests, and Policy Making
CHRISTOPHER HEURLIN
BowdoinCollege,Brunswick,Maine
OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006USA
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©ChristopherHeurlin2016
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Firstpublished2016
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Contents
ListofFigures pageviii
ListofTables ix
Acknowledgments xi
AbbreviationsforSources xiii
1 ProtestandPolicyOutcomesunder
Authoritarianism 1
2 LandTakings,Demolitions,andaRisingWaveofProtest
Signals 28
3 DisruptiveTacticsandBuyingStabilityinLocalGovernment
Responsiveness 54
4 SocialStabilityandthePetitioningSystem’sRoleinAgenda
Setting 90
5 ProtestandthePoliticalMediationApproachinProvincial
PolicyMaking 117
6 TheStateCouncilandtheNationalPeople’sCongressas
VetoPlayersinthePolicyOutcomesofProtests 147
7 Conclusion 182
Appendix1 TheLexisNexisDataSet 215
Appendix2 TheZhejiangLandlessFarmerSurvey 216
Appendix3 DescriptiveDataonProvincialAdoption
ofSocialSecurityPolicies 217
Index 219
vii
Figures
2.1 PetitionstotheMinistryofLandResourcesinBeijing. page42
3.1 BannerhungatdemolitionsiteinHangzhou. 81
4.1 SocialstabilityinthePeople’sDaily(RenminRibao). 92
4.2 TheagendaofthePeople’sDaily. 112
5.1 Provincialpolicyadoptionbypetitioning. 129
viii