China's Governance Model ─ Flexibility and Durability of Pragmatic Authoritarianism

Many books on government in China either simply describe the political institutions or else focus, critically, on the weaknesses of the system, such as corruption or the absence of Western-style democracy. This book, on the other hand, takes a more balanced, more positive view. It argues that, although the party-state is determined to preserve itself, China’s governance model has changed for the better in many respects in recent years. These changes, discussed fully in the book, include better management of leadership succession, better crisis management, improved social welfare, the management of society through treating different social groups differently depending on their potentially to rival the party-state, and increasing, but limited, intra-party grassroots democracy. The book explains the thinking which lies behind China’s governance model and the changes to it, and assesses how the governance model is likely to develop, comparing recent developments with changes in China’s governance over a long historical period, and concluding that the regime can be expected to survive for the foreseeable future.

Hongyi Lai is an Associate Professor in the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK