China Experiments: From Local Innovations to National Reform

232 Pages·2012·2.685 MB·English

by  Ann M. Florini, Hairong Lai, Yeling Tan

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Advance Praise ol
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“Radical experimentation is the secret behind China’s extraordinary rise over ni
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the last generation. This fascinating book shows China in a new light as a vast
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laboratory where different social, political, and economic policies are tested and
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compete for the attention of the leadership. It is required reading for anyone who
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wants to understand China as it enters a new phase in its political, economic, and a
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social development.”
—Mark Leonard, director, European Council on Foreign Relations

“Florini, Lai, and Tan deliver a thoughtful account of the transformations in China
occurring through local experimentation in four key areas of political reform—
bureaucracy, electoral institutions, civil society organizations, and government
transparency. They shed new light on the process of policy innovation and tackle
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the question of whether such innovations are likely to reinforce Communist Party
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rule or lead to greater democratization. An informative and well-written book.”
—Lily Tsai, Massachusetts Institute of Technology I
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CCHHIINNAA
“There are few more important questions in the world today than the political future A
of China. This admirable book helps the reader to understand the political and

administrative changes which are taking place there. The analysis combines deep E
knowledge with balance and clarity. It is a must-read for anyone interested in X
contemporary China.” P
—Tommy Koh, chairman, Centre for International Law, and rector, E
R From Local Innovations to National Reform
Tembusu College, National University of Singapore
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“China Experiments is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why this
EXPERIMENTS
one-party giant has not collapsed and in what political directions China may head. E
Florini, Lai, and Tan show how bottom-up innovative institutional reforms have N
introduced powerful dynamics into the country’s political system. This is a useful
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guide for the West in formulating its policies toward China, a country which is
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frequently perceived as a threat.”
—Zheng Yongnian, professor and director, East Asian Institute,
National University of Singapore
ANN FLORINI is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and
visiting professor of political science, School of Social Sciences, Singapore Man-
agement University. HAIRONG LAI is the executive director of the China Center for
Overseas Social and Philosophical Theories. YELING TAN is a Ph.D. student in
public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.brookings.edu Ann Florini, Hairong Lai, and Yeling Tan
Cover design and art by Claude Goodwin
Top photo © shansekala/iStockphoto
CHINA
ExpErimEnts
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CHINA
ExpErimEnts
From LocaL InnovatIons
to natIonaL reForm
Ann Florini
Hairong Lai
Yeling Tan
brookings institution press
Washington, D.C.
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about brookings
The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to
research, education, and publication on important issues of domestic and
foreign policy. Its principal purpose is to bring the highest quality independent
research and analysis to bear on current and emerging policy problems.
Interpretations or conclusions in Brookings publications should be understood
to be solely those of the authors.
Copyright © 2012
the brookings institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036
www.brookings.edu
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing
from the Brookings Institution Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Florini, Ann.
China experiments : from local innovations to national reform / Ann Florini,
Hairong Lai, and Yeling Tan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Using detailed and empirically grounded analysis, examines the
changing relationship between the Chinese state and the society it governs, how
governance choices made affect the country and the rest of the world, and how
local Chinese authorities have responded to the challenges they face in coping
with China’s rapid transformation”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-8157-2200-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Public administration—China. 2. Organizational change—China. 3. Central-
local government relations—China. 4. Decentralization in government—
China. 5. Local governments—China. I. Lai, Hairong. II. Tan, Yeling. III. Title.
JQ1509.5.O73F66 2012
352.3'670951—dc23 2011047358
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed on acid-free paper
Typeset in Sabon and Optima
Composition by Cynthia Stock
Silver Spring, Maryland
Printed by R. R. Donnelley
Harrisonburg, Virginia
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Contents
Foreword vii
Preface xi
1 China at a Crossroads 1
2 Streamlining the State 40
3 The Evolution of Voting Mechanisms 62
4 Civil Society 88
5 From Local Experiments to National Rules:
China Lets the Sunshine In 123
6 Where Is China Going? 160
Notes 181
Index 207
v
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Foreword
E
ven in its first decade, the twenty-first century has provided mul-
tiple auguries that the decades ahead will be characterized by a number
of transformative trends, including deepening globalization, changing
demographics, shifts in economic power, and threats to the viability of
our ecosphere—especially global warming. Taken together, those devel-
opments constitute a challenge to governance at the metropolitan, pro-
vincial, national, regional, and global levels.
China is at the nexus of that phenomenon, given its spectacular eco-
nomic growth, its growing middle class, its robust and sometimes asser-
tive sense of sovereignty—and, of course, its sheer size.
In this timely and trenchant book, the authors explore a very impor-
tant way in which China is responding: through careful experimentation,
managed with a firm hand by the central leadership. As China’s leaders
address the massive problems of rising inequality and social instability
without jeopardizing their monopoly on power, they are carrying out—or
being forced to allow—extensive experiments in political reform at locali-
ties throughout the country.
The ethos of experimentation, which has accounted for so much of
China’s success in recent decades, lies at the heart of this book. Local gov-
ernments are taking a trial-and-error, learning-by-doing approach, from
advanced metropolises like Shanghai, to impoverished townships and
counties struggling to respond to rising discontent. Lessons are drawn
from each initiative, with ideas spreading across different parts of China,
vii
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viii   Foreword
sometimes with official encouragement from Beijing, sometimes in spite
of warning signals from the central government.
The book reveals a powerful and unpredictable dynamic at work. In
these pages, the conventional image of a Chinese juggernaut directed by
an all-powerful party-state dissolves into a far more complex tempest of
voices, interests, and powers. China’s continued opening up to the rest
of the world, the powerful forces of information technology, and the
deepening of international production chains are all helping to fuel the
government’s deliberate efforts to adapt and to experiment politically.
What this means for China’s future political development is an
incredibly complicated question. This book explodes the common West-
ern misperception of China as an authoritarian monolith, enabling read-
ers to sort through China’s extreme complexity and understand the sig-
nificance of specific developments, including the leadership transition
expected in 2012.
The authors provide useful guidelines for thinking about China’s tra-
jectory. They identify signs to watch for that would suggest the direc-
tion in which things are headed. Political experimentation could serve
to entrench the current party-state by making it more efficient and less
corrupt. There is a more hopeful alternative: China could serve as the
basis for successful democratization as citizens develop the capacity for
democratic engagement, as new conceptions of the role of the state evolve
within the bureaucracy, and as appropriate institutions develop.
China’s trajectory will have repercussions far beyond the country
itself. It will be one of the key determinants of world order during this
century. A stable, prosperous, democratic China would be a very different
interlocutor for the world than a chaotic, or authoritarian, or collapsing
one. Furthermore, as noted, it is not the only country that finds itself
dealing with thorny challenges of governance. From political gridlock in
Washington, to anti-corruption protests in New Delhi, to the problems
besetting the European Union, there is plenty of evidence that large soci-
eties are hard to govern and getting harder. Some of the challenges that
Chinese government officials are grappling with, such as streamlining
administrative processes and managing public-private sector collabora-
tion, will be familiar to anyone who has worked on governance reform.
This book sets a high standard and a useful model in another respect
as well: the interchange of ideas and perspectives among the authors have,
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Foreword   ix
in their collaboration, replicated much of the dialogue that is already
beginning to take place between and among China and other countries,
as well as between and among key regions of China itself: Beijing, Shang-
hai, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou—and, crucially, between urban areas
and the countryside, where some of the most promising innovations are
taking place.
If the slogan “harmonious society” is to acquire concrete and benefi-
cial meaning, it must apply to diverse communities, at both the national
and the global level. It is in the fulfillment of that spirit that this book rep-
resents a major contribution that extends well beyond the subject at hand.
Strobe Talbott
President
Brookings Institution
Washington, D.C.
January 2012
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