The Sinews of State Power: The Rise and Demise of the Cohesive Local State in Rural China
The Sinews of State Power seeks to explain why rural China has been so unstable since 2000, despite numerous national reforms. Using original fieldwork, it traces the rise and demise of cohesive local states in rural China since the Maoist era. It shows that, the county, township, and village levels of government, when in alliance, have facilitated economic growth and caused social grievances. However, national reforms redressing local deviation, together with individual responses from each level of administration, have dismantled elite alliances, and consequentially undermined the extractive, coercive, and responsive capacity of the state. This book forms dialogue with two fields of inquiry in China studies and comparative politics. First, researches on farmer protest often either focus on farmers' grievances, organizations, and strategies, or examine responses from the state as a uniform entity. This book, instead, highlights the anthropology of the state by looking into elite cohesion across administrative levels that determines the exercise of state capacity. Second, studies of regime stability or endurance have stressed holistic factors, such as institutional adaptability, political culture, or epidemic corruption. The Sinews of State Power instead revisits the fundamental components of a capable government - a coherent and robust local leadership that enables the function of a state.
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The Sinews of State Power: The Rise and Demise of the Cohesive Local State in Rural China
The Sinews of State Power seeks to explain why rural China has been so unstable since 2000, despite numerous national reforms. Using original fieldwork, it traces the rise and demise of cohesive local states in rural China since the Maoist era. It shows that, the county, township, and village levels of government, when in alliance, have facilitated economic growth and caused social grievances. However, national reforms redressing local deviation, together with individual responses from each level of administration, have dismantled elite alliances, and consequentially undermined the extractive, coercive, and responsive capacity of the state. This book forms dialogue with two fields of inquiry in China studies and comparative politics. First, researches on farmer protest often either focus on farmers' grievances, organizations, and strategies, or examine responses from the state as a uniform entity. This book, instead, highlights the anthropology of the state by looking into elite cohesion across administrative levels that determines the exercise of state capacity. Second, studies of regime stability or endurance have stressed holistic factors, such as institutional adaptability, political culture, or epidemic corruption. The Sinews of State Power instead revisits the fundamental components of a capable government - a coherent and robust local leadership that enables the function of a state.
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The Sinews of State Power: The Rise and Demise of the Cohesive Local State in Rural China

The Sinews of State Power: The Rise and Demise of the Cohesive Local State in Rural China

by Juan Wang
The Sinews of State Power: The Rise and Demise of the Cohesive Local State in Rural China

The Sinews of State Power: The Rise and Demise of the Cohesive Local State in Rural China

by Juan Wang

Hardcover

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Overview

The Sinews of State Power seeks to explain why rural China has been so unstable since 2000, despite numerous national reforms. Using original fieldwork, it traces the rise and demise of cohesive local states in rural China since the Maoist era. It shows that, the county, township, and village levels of government, when in alliance, have facilitated economic growth and caused social grievances. However, national reforms redressing local deviation, together with individual responses from each level of administration, have dismantled elite alliances, and consequentially undermined the extractive, coercive, and responsive capacity of the state. This book forms dialogue with two fields of inquiry in China studies and comparative politics. First, researches on farmer protest often either focus on farmers' grievances, organizations, and strategies, or examine responses from the state as a uniform entity. This book, instead, highlights the anthropology of the state by looking into elite cohesion across administrative levels that determines the exercise of state capacity. Second, studies of regime stability or endurance have stressed holistic factors, such as institutional adaptability, political culture, or epidemic corruption. The Sinews of State Power instead revisits the fundamental components of a capable government - a coherent and robust local leadership that enables the function of a state.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780190605735
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 04/07/2017
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Juan Wang is Assistant Professor of Political Science, McGill University.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Basics of Government: Cohesive and Robust Local States

Chapter I
Rural Government and Farmer Protest in Comparative Perspective

Chapter II
The Formation and Institutionalization of Intra-State Cohesion

Chapter III
The Changes and Continuity of Local State Cohesion

Chapter IV
Dismantling The Local State: The Isolated Village Cadres

Chapter V
Implications: Declining Coercive and Extractive Capacities of the State

Conclusion
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