Local Governance and Grassroots Politics in China Course Description: By Professors ZHONG Yang and CHEN Huirong School of International and Public Affairs Shanghai Jiao Tong University Spring 2013 This graduate class is designed to provide students with information and analyses of local governance and grassroots politics in contemporary China. Topics covered in the class include: central-local relations in China, Chinese local government at provincial, municipal, county and township levels, governance in ethnic minority areas, local people s congress election, village election, mass political culture and participation, grassroots organizations in urban areas, and non-governmental organizations. The class will be conducted in a comparative fashion by comparing China with neighboring Asian countries, Western countries and developing countries. Course Requirements: Students are required to finish the assigned readings prior to each class. Students are expected to be fully involved in the class and to participate in class discussion. Students are also required to write a term paper on Chinese local governance and grassroots politics. The paper is due the last week of the class. Course Requirements and Grading Policy: Since this is primarily a seminar at graduate level, students are required to finish all reading assignments for each class before the class. Completion of reading materials is crucial for your success in the class. Also, your familiarity with the reading materials facilitates your participation in the class discussions, which are expected of all students and will be a significant part in the evaluation of your overall class performance. Needless to say, regular attendance of the class is a given. Students are required to write an analytical research paper of 20-25 pages in length on any subject matter covered in the class. Comparative studies are encouraged. The research paper should be original and not just a literature review or a simple description of institutions, political behavior, governmental process, etc. The topic for the paper must be selected in consultation with the instructor. (More on the paper will be explained in class.) The paper should be typed in double-line spacing and properly footnoted. The paper is due at the conclusion of the class. Late papers will not be accepted without a proper reason. 1
Grade distribution: Class presentation/discussion: 50% Research paper: 50% Course Schedule Week 1 (Feb. 27): Introduction to the class and Chinese governmental structure (Prof. CHEN) Required readings: 1. Sujian Guo, Chinese Politics and Government: Power, Ideology, and Organization (New York, NY: Routledge Press, 2013), Chapter 9 (The Party-State Structure of Chinese government), pp. 131-151; and Chapter 10 (Political Development in post-mao China), pp. 152-165 Week 2 (Mar. 6): Theoretical frameworks of central-local relations and Chinese local government in history (Prof. ZHONG) 1. Sujian Guo, Chinese Politics and Government: Power, Ideology, and Organization (New York, NY: Routledge Press, 2013), Chapter 2 ( Theoretical Models for Studying Chinese Politics), pp. 12-32 2. Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2003), Chapter 1 ( Introduction ), pp. 3-17; and Chapter 2 ( Chinese Local Government in Historical Perspective ), pp. 18-46 Week 3 (Mar. 13): Central-local relations in comparative perspective (Prof. ZHONG) 1. Samuel Humes and Eileen M. Martin, The Structure of Local Governments throughout the World (The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1961), Chapter 1 ( Local Government and Its Structure ), Chapter 2 ( The Units of Local Government ), Chapter 3 ( The Relations with the Central Government ) 2. Student presentations (students describing their own country s central and local governmental structures) Week 4 (Mar. 20): China s provincial and municipal governance (Prof. CHEN) 1. John Donaldson, Provinces: Paradoxical Politics, Problematic Partners, in Jae Ho Chung and Tao-Chiu Lam, eds., China s Local Administration: Traditions and Changes in the Sub-national Hierarchy (London, England: Routledge Press, 2010), pp. 14-38 2. Tse-Kang Leng, Centrally Administered Municipalities: Locomotives of National Development, in Jae Ho Chung and Tao-Chiu Lam, eds., China s 2
Local Administration, pp. 39-61 3. Jae Ho Chung, Deputy-provincial Cities: Embedded Yet de facto Players, in Jae Ho Chung and Tao-Chiu Lam, eds., China s Local Administration, pp. 111-126 4. Shiuh-Shen Chien, Prefectures and Prefecture-level Cities: The Political Economy of Administrative Restructuring, in Jae Ho Chung and Tao-Chiu Lam, eds., China s Local Administration, pp. 127-148 Week 5 (Mar. 27): China s county and township governance (Prof. ZHONG) 1. Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China, Chapter 3 ( Governmental and Party Organizations at County and Township/Town Levels ), pp. 47-93 2. Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China, Chapter 4 ( Local Officials as Rational Actors in the Chinese Cadre System ), pp.94-127 3. Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China, Chapter 5 ( Policy Implementation at County and Township/Town Levels ), pp. 128-157 4. Jean C. Oi and Zhao Shukai, Fiscal Crisis in China s Townships, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 75-96 5. Lianjiang Li, Direct Township Elections, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 97-116 Week 6 (Apr. 3): Central-local fiscal relations and economic development in China (Prof. CHEN) 1. Hongbin Cai and Daniel Treisman, Did Government Decentralization Cause China s Economic Miracle? World Politics 58.4 (2006), pp. 505-535; 2. Xiaobo Zhang, Fiscal decentralization and political centralization in China: Implications for growth and inequality, Journal of Comparative Economics 34, no.4 (Dec 2006), pp. 713-726 3. Le-Yin Zhang, Chinese Central-Provincial Fiscal Relationships, Budgetary Decline and the Impact of the 1994 Fiscal Reform: An Evaluation. The China Quarterly, No. 157 (1999), pp. 115-41 Week 7 (Apr. 10): Village governance and village elections in China (Prof. ZHONG) 1. Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China, Chapter 6 ( Chinese Village Authorities as Policy-Implementation Arms ), pp. 158-182 2. Yang Zhong and Jie Chen, To Vote or Not To Vote: An Analysis of Peasants Participation in Chinese Village Elections, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 35, No. 6 (2002), pp. 686-712 3. Richard Levy, Village Elections, Transparency, and Anti-corruption: Henan and Guangdong Provinces, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 20-47 3
4. John James Kennedy, The Implementation of Village Elections and Tax-for-Fee Reform in Rural Northwest China, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 48-74 Week 8 (Apr. 17): Grassroots governance in urban China (Prof. CHEN) 1. Tao-Chiu Lam and Carlos Wing-Hung Lo, The Urban District: Half or Full Administration, pp. 196-220 2. Benjamin L. Reed, Inadvertent Political Reform via Private Associations: Assessing Homeowners Groups in New Neighborhoods, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 149-173 3. Yongshun Cai, Civil Resistance and Rule of Law in China: The Defense of Homeowners Rights, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 174-195 Week 9 (Apr. 24): Non-governmental organizations in China (Prof. CHEN) 1. Jonathan Unger and Anita Chan, China, Corporatism, and the East Asian Model, Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 33 (1995), pp. 29-53 2. Timothy Hildebrandt, The Political Economy of Social Organization Registration in China. The China Quarterly, No. 208 (Dec. 2011), pp. 970-989 3. Andreas Fulda, Yanyan Li and Qinghua Song, New Strategies of Civil Society in China: a Case Study of the Network Governance Approach. Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 21, No. 76 (2012), pp. 675-693 4. Guobin Yang, How Do Chinese Civic Associations Respond to the Internet? Findings from a Survey. The China Quarterly, No. 189 (2007), pp. 122-43 Week 10 (May 1): No Class, International Labor Day Week 11 (May 8): Governance in ethnic minority areas (Prof. ZHONG) 1. Ernest Renan, What is a Nation? in Geoff Eley and Ronald Grigor Suny, eds., Becoming National: A Reader, pp.42-55 2. Hongyi Lai, Ethnic Autonomous Regions: A Formula for a Unitary Multiethnic State, in Jae Ho Chung and Tao-Chiu Lam, eds., China s Local Administration, pp. 62-85 3. Dru C. Gladney, Islam in China: Accommodation or Separatism, The China Quarterly, No. 174 (2003), pp. 451-467 Week 12 (May 15): Mass political culture, public opinion and Internet in China (Prof. ZHONG) 1. Andrew Nathan, Is Chinese Culture Distinctive? A Review Article Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 52, No. 4 (1993), pp. 923-936 2. Steve Chan, Chinese Political Attitudes and Values in Comparative Context: 4
Cautionary Remarks on Cultural Attributions, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2008), pp. 225-248 3. Yang Zhong, Democratic Values among Chinese Peasantry: An Empirical Study, China: An International Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2005), pp. 189-211 4. Yuezhi Zhao and Sun Wusan, Public Opinion Supervision: Possibilities and Limits of the Media in Constraining Local Officials, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 300-326 5. Yongnian Zheng and Guoguang Wu, Information Technology, Public Space, and Collective Action in China, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 38 No. 5, (2005), pp. 507-536 Week 13 (May 22): Formal and informal political participation in China (Prof. CHEN) 1. Jie Chen and Yang Zhong, Why Do People Vote in Semicompetitive Elections in China? Journal of Politics, Vol. 64, No. 1 (2002), pp. 178-197 2. Xi Chen, Between Defiance and Obedience: Protest Opportunism in China, in Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, pp. 253-281 3. Yongshun Cai, Managed Participation in China, Political Science Quarterly, vol. 119, no. 3 (2004), pp. 425-451. 4. Kevin O Brien, Rightful Resistance, World Politics 49.1 (1996) 31-55. Weeks 14-15 (May 29 and Jun. 5): Student research paper presentations Week 16 (Jun. 12): No Class, the Dragon Boat Festival Textbooks Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2003). Jae Ho Chung and Tao-chiu Lam, eds., China s Local Administration: Traditions and Changes in the Sub-National Hierarchy (London, England: Routledge Press, 2010). Elizabeth Perry and Merle Goldman, eds., Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007). 5