Governance and Politics of China

Saich, Tony

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-44530-8

Cited by 75 publications

(26 citation statements)

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“…Most emphasize the “opening up” component of China's foreign policy (Huang ; Qin ; Wang ), but we argue that the “reform” component also played a key role for IR. Starting at the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee (1978), Deng and his pragmatic supporters advocated economic growth via the promotion of market mechanisms to deal with inefficiencies of allocation and distribution in the centrally planned economy (Saich :52–53). Deng also encouraged learning from the West in all areas of society, and specifically called for making up for “missed lessons” in political science, law, sociology, and world politics (Geeraerts and Men :254).…”

Section: Externalist Layers: Sociopolitical and Materials Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing a Chinese International Relations Theory: A Sociological Approach to Intellectual Innovation

Kristensen

Nielsen

2013

Int Polit Sociol

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Chinese scholars are debating whether, and how, to innovate a Chinese theory of International Relations (IR). This article examines the driving forces behind this theoretical debate. It challenges the commonsensical link between external events in the subject matter (i.r.) and theorizing (IR), which suggests that the innovation of a Chinese IR theory is a natural product of China's geopolitical rise, its growing political ambitions, and discontent with Western hegemony. We propose instead a sociological approach to intellectual innovation which opens the black box of knowledge production, and argue that theoretical innovation, in China and elsewhere, is best understood as an interplay between internal and external layers. The internal academic context comprises intellectuals pursuing prominence, with each intellectual trying to carve out a maximally distinct position in order to receive attention from their peerstheorizing a Chinese IR theory being one important way of doing this. The external layer-which ranges from power politics to sociopolitical developments-affects this process indirectly by providing more research funds and autonomy to the more immediate institutional environment where control over rewards such as research funds, promotion, and publications affects what kind of work is done, with theorizing being increasingly rewarded.The International Relations discipline (IR) has long been known as an "American social science," dominated by US scholars, theories, and methodologies (Hoffmann 1977;Waever 1998;Smith 2000). A recent study of IR communities around the world shows that this has changed little, with the possible exception of China (Tickner and Waever 2009:336). Reading through the literature on IR in China, one is struck by references to debates about developing "IR with . The Chinese attempt to produce a distinctly national international theory is a unique case, and the puzzle of this paper is "Why has there been an innovational drive to develop Chinese IR theory?" Our main argument is that theoretical innovation should be understood 1 We would like to thank Ole Waever for his valuable comments on several drafts and all the Chinese scholars who agreed to participate in the interviews. We also thank Daniel Bell, Henrik Breitenbauch, Geir Helgesen, Chung-In Moon, Rens van Munster, Casper Sylvest, Morten Valbjørn, and the two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments. Lastly, we are grateful to the Augustinus Foundation for providing the funds that made our field trip possible. The usual disclaimer applies.

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Section: Externalist Layers: Sociopolitical and Materials Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing a Chinese International Relations Theory: A Sociological Approach to Intellectual Innovation

Kristensen

Nielsen

2013

Int Polit Sociol

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“…It should be noted that, when compared with other countries, the degree of decentralization and the underlying belief in self‐reliance and mutual aid among families and friends, rather than on the government, are perhaps some of the unique characteristics of the Chinese social safety net system (Saich ). Even though over time the Chinese national government has become increasingly involved, setting policies and providing guidelines to standardize benefit levels in various programs and providing more intergovernmental transfers to subnational governments (such as subsidies for unemployed workers due to economic restructuring of state‐owned enterprises and subsidies for retraining and reemployment programs), subnational governments still have significant discretion in deciding the actual level of spending and implementing SSNEA policies.…”

Section: A Brief History Of the Chinese Social Spending Policies In Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing Social Safety Net and Employment Assistance Spending in Chinese Cities (对中国城市中社会保障和就业援助支出的分析)

Tao

2013

Aust J Public Adm

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“…See, for example: Fairbank and Goldman (); Fei (); He (); Lieberthal (); Lin (); McMillan et al. ; Riskin (); Saich (); Thurston (); Vogel (); Zhang (); Zhao (); Zhou ().…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See, for example: Fei (: 232–33); He (); Lin (); McMillan et al. (); Riskin (: 288); Saich (: 61); Zhang (: 128); Zhou ().…”

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confidence: 99%

Commune Kabuki: Development and Productivity Growth under Maoist China's Rural Collectives

Eisenman¹

2018

Development and Change

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The key question for a developing country with a fast-growing population is how to increase savings rates and make productive investments that take advantage of high returns to capital. This study demonstrates that after the disastrous Great Leap Forward (1958)(1959)(1960)(1961), China's commune system administered a nationwide agricultural modernization programme that was able to deliver continuous robust increases in agricultural productivity throughout the 1970s. Through the extraction of household savings primarily via the workpoint remuneration system, China's communes impoverished the local populace while funding investments that increased agricultural production. The workpoint remuneration system constituted a 'kabuki theatre' that used countless meetings about job allocations, work evaluations, and the exchange of points for cash or grain to draw members' attention away from the extraction of their savings and towards the size of their own portion relative to other workers. China's research and extension system, which was nested into the commune and its sub-units, prioritized locally appropriate capital investments and technical innovations that were both labour-and land-saving. These two systems worked together to extract an increasing percentage of household savings and underwrite investments in productive capital and technology that produced a decade of rapid increases in food output.

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Governance and Politics of China

Cited by 75 publications

References 0 publications

Constructing a Chinese International Relations Theory: A Sociological Approach to Intellectual Innovation

Constructing a Chinese International Relations Theory: A Sociological Approach to Intellectual Innovation

Analyzing Social Safety Net and Employment Assistance Spending in Chinese Cities (对中国城市中社会保障和就业援助支出的分析)

Commune Kabuki: Development and Productivity Growth under Maoist China's Rural Collectives

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