China's Uncertain Future
Jean-Luc Domenach
Abstract
This book examines China's place in the world and looks at a range of crucial issues now facing the country, such as the growth (or deterioration) of its economy, the government's ever-delayed democratization, the potential outcomes of a national political crisis, and the possible escalation of a revamped authoritarianism. The book draws on a wealth of archival and contemporary materials and ultimately reads China's current progress as a set of easy accomplishments presaging a more difficult era of development. It sets out the difficult decisions now confronting China's elite, who are under tr ... More
This book examines China's place in the world and looks at a range of crucial issues now facing the country, such as the growth (or deterioration) of its economy, the government's ever-delayed democratization, the potential outcomes of a national political crisis, and the possible escalation of a revamped authoritarianism. The book draws on a wealth of archival and contemporary materials and ultimately reads China's current progress as a set of easy accomplishments presaging a more difficult era of development. It sets out the difficult decisions now confronting China's elite, who are under tremendous pressure to support an economy based on innovation and consumption, to establish a political system based on law and popular participation, to rethink their national identity and spatial organization, and to define a more positive approach to the world's problems. These leaders are also besieged by corruption among their ranks, an increasingly restless urban population, and a sharp decline in their country's demographic growth. The book highlights these anxieties and looks at the attempts that are being made to alleviate them. It reveals a China much less confident and secure than many would believe.
Keywords:
China,
revamped authoritarianism,
political system,
popular participation,
national identity
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231152259 |
| Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231152259.001.0001 |
