Roots of the state : neighborhood organization and social networks in Beijing and Taipei / Benjamin L. Read.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Read, Benjamin Lelan, author.

Series:

Contemporary issues in Asia and the Pacific

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neighborhood government--China--Beijing.

Neighborhood government.

Neighborhood government--Taiwan--Taipei.

Citizens' associations--China--Beijing.

Citizens' associations.

Citizens' associations--Taiwan--Taipei.

Social networks--China--Beijing.

Social networks.

Social networks--Taiwan--Taipei.

Beijing (China)--Politics and government.

Beijing (China).

Taipei (Taiwan)--Politics and government.

Taipei (Taiwan).

Taiwan--Taipei.

China--Beijing.

Physical Description:

xvi, 356 pages ; 18 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2012.

Summary:

Most social science studies of local organizations tend to focus on "civil society" associations, voluntary groups independent from state control, whereas government-sponsored organizations tend to be theorized in totalitarian terms as "mass organizations" or manifestations of state corporatism. Roots of the State examines neighborhood-level structures in Beijing and Taipei that occupy a unique space that exists between these concepts.

Benjamin L. Read views the work of such organizations in East and Southeast Asia as a form of "administrative grassroots engagement." States sponsor networks of organizations at the most local of levels, and the networks facilitate governance and policing by building personal relationships with members of society. Leaders serve as the state's designated liaisons within the neighborhood and perform administrative duties covering a wide range of government programs, from welfare to political mobilization. These partly state-controlled entities also provide a range of everyday services to their constituents.

Such institutions, initially created as tools of control, may underpin a repressive regime such as China's, but they also can evolve to empower societies, as in Taiwan. This book engages broad and much-discussed questions about governance and political participation in both authoritarian and democratic regimes. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction : administration at the grassroots in East and Southeast Asia

The little platoon : structuring the neighborhood

Elections, bogus and bona fide

Power relations at the alley level

Perceptions and interaction

Thick networks and state-mobilized volunteers

Thin networks and the appeals of organic statism

The landscape of grassroots administration : comparative cases.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804775649

0804775648

9780804775656

0804775656

OCLC:

755004305