Toward better governance in China : an unconventional pathway of political reform / edited by Baogang Guo and Dennis Hickey.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Guo, Baogang, 1960-

Hickey, Dennis.

Series:

Challenges facing Chinese political development

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

China--Politics and government--2002-.

China.

Politics and government.

China--Economic conditions--2000-.

Economic conditions.

China--Ethnic relations.

Ethnic relations.

Local governance--China.

Local governance.

Municipal government--China.

Municipal government.

Democratization--China.

Democratization.

Physical Description:

xv, 210 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, [2010]

Summary:

Toward Better Governance in China: An Unconventional Pathway of Political Reform takes a fresh look at the latest efforts made by Chinese leaders to promote governance-based reform. It asserts that the improvement of governance has now become a breakthrough point of the much-anticipated political reform. Although the Chinese government continues to play down expectations about political reform, many small-scale reform experiments have been quietly undertaken by Chinese leaders at various levels, including the recent round of administrative reform centered on the creation of “super ministries,” the enlargement of inner-party democracy within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the strengthening of local legislative bodies, and judicial reform designed to promote judicial independence and rule of law. This strategy calls for strengthening governing capacity and changing government functions.

One of the advantages in first improving government is that it is less risky than embarking upon a full-scaled electoral reform. Electoral democracy is undoubtedly an important element in a functional democracy, yet equally important is the effectiveness, transparency, accountability, and openness of the governing process. Better governance implies greater transparency, open deliberation and participation, and less adversarial political confrontation and conflict. If constructed properly, China could become the sort of democratic administration or administrative democracy that Robert Dahl described in 1947. Clearly, political reform of this kind does not follow the conventional wisdom of a democratic transition, which places heavy emphasis on electoral reform or the precedence of the electoral reform to the government reform. Toward Better Governance in China sheds some light on the ongoing debate about the direction of China's political development.

Contents:

1 To Build a Government of Better Transparency and More Accountability: the CCP’s Governance Performance in the Hu Era / Sheng Ding 17

2 The Super Ministry System Reform in China: Bureaucratic Politics or Administrative Reform toward a Public Service Government? / Xufeng Zhu 35

3 Generalized vs. Particularized Social Capital: Social Trust and Grass-Roots Governance in Urban China / Jie Chen, Huhe Narisong, Chunlong Lu 51

4 The State’s Rubber Stamp or Independent Agent: A Study on the Development of Municipal People’s Congress in China / Jon Bond, Diqing Lou 71

5 China’s Healthcare System Reform: Development, Issues, and Prospects / Lin Ye 89

6 Norms, Laws, Political Accountability and China’s Legal Reform-the Cases of ALL and Xinfang (L & V) / Yuchao Zhu 103

7 Policy Experimentation and China’s Labor Market Regulation: The Case of the Labor Contract Law / Chia-chen Chou, Han-Pu Tung 125

8 Changing Bottom Line: Broadcasting Regulation in China / Xi Chen 147

9 Why is Xinjiang Still a New Dominion? / Qian Guo 163

10 The Road to Ethnic Harmony: An Analysis of Internal Causes to the Ethnic Issues in Xinjiang / Yiran Zhou 183.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739140277

0739140272

9780739140291

0739140299

OCLC:

430344670