The Failure of China's Democratic Reforms: (Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development)

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: "Direct Elections" for Township Executives Chapter 3: "Inner-Party Democracy" and the Experiments of Direct Elections for Township Party Secretaries Chapter 4: Another Form of "Inner-Party Democracy": The Party Congress Reform Chapter 5: The Experiments with "Deliberative Democracy" Chapter 6: A Reform Instigated from the Outside of the Bureaucratic System: Independent Candidates in China's Local Congress Elections Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Zaijun Yuan was a lecturer in Chinese Studies at Monash University.

Review :
Yuan (Monash Univ., Australia) examines five types of political experiments at the local level in China over the past decade. They are direct popular election of township government executives, efforts to promote inner-party democracy, direct election of township party executives, reform of local party congresses, and independent candidate participation in local elections. Yuan finds in each case that the ruling party has used a variety of legal and illegal means to prevent or reverse outcomes unfavorable to the Communist Party of China (CCP). These means range from redistricting, to manipulating the nomination process, to intimidation and detention of nonpreferred candidates. Yuan concludes that the actions of the CCP and allied government officials have prevented these five types of experiments from making any of the hoped for contributions to the democratization of China. He even suggests that the propaganda apparatus of the CCP may have been the only beneficiary of these experiments, and that democracy may only come through a public uprising. While much of Yuan's fieldwork adds to the research base, the work is tedious reading. However, chapter 6 on independent candidates is a must read for serious, advanced students of Chinese politics. Thus, the work is recommended for scholars conducting similar research. Summing Up: Recommended. Despite the courageous efforts of democratically committed Chinese, Yuan meticulously reveals how the CCP's supposed democratic experiments offer no hope for democratization in authoritarian China. An important work. This book offers an in-depth and well structured study on the 'democratic reforms' at different levels in post-Mao China. It is well grounded in theory and practice with empirical evidence and many insights into the 'democratic experiments' in China and its implications for the future. Zaijun Yuan spells it out reform by reform, election by election: The Chinese Communist Party is not leading Chinese democratization incrementally. As Yuan shows, the Party is fundamentally incapable of loosening its monopoly on power. A very important book at this moment in China's—and indeed the world's—history.