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Power Structure and Regime Resilience: Contentious Politics in China

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  • CAI, YONGSHUN

Abstract

Authoritarian governments may face serious uncertainties when dealing with popular resistance because of the unpredictable consequences of making concessions or repressing opposition. However, a political system with multiple levels of authority can help reduce the uncertainties by granting conditional autonomy to lower-level authorities. Such a power structure prevents excessive repression and unconditional concessions when the priorities of different levels of authority do not match. Under this political arrangement, the central authority can avoid blame when local authorities use repression. The divided power also helps reduce the uncertainties faced by the central authority because it will then have to deal with only a very limited number of instances of resistance. Using the case of China, this article shows that divided state power has allowed the party-state to maintain social stability amid numerous instances of social unrest during the reform era.

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  • Cai, Yongshun, 2008. "Power Structure and Regime Resilience: Contentious Politics in China," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(3), pages 411-432, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:38:y:2008:i:03:p:411-432_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Xinyu Fan & Feng Yang, 2019. "Strategic promotion, reputation, and responsiveness in bureaucratic hierarchies," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 31(3), pages 286-307, July.
    2. Chen, Huirong, 2022. "Linking institutional function with form: Distributional dynamics, disequilibrium, and rural land shareholding in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    3. Zhang Qi & Liu Mingxing, 2010. "Local Political Elite, Partial Reform Symptoms, and the Business and Market Environment in Rural China," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-41, April.
    4. Youlang Zhang & Hongshan Yang, 2023. "Bureaucratic politics, innovation compatibility, and the dynamic diffusion of subnational decentralization reforms in China," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(4), pages 553-572, July.
    5. Raymond Yu Wang & Tao Liu & Heping Dang, 2018. "Bridging critical institutionalism and fragmented authoritarianism in China: An analysis of centralized water policies and their local implementation in semi‐arid irrigation districts," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 451-465, December.
    6. Chen Li & Mark Yaolin Wang & Jennifer Day, 2021. "Reconfiguration of state–society relations: The making of uncompromising nail households in urban housing demolition and relocation in Dalian, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 1581-1597, June.
    7. Viengsamay Sengchaleun & Hina Hakim & Sengchanh Kounnavong & Daniel Reinharz, 2022. "Analysis of the Relevance of the Advocacy Coalition Framework to Analyze Public Policies in Non-Pluralist Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-11, November.
    8. Jinrui Xi, 2018. "Sustainable Legitimacy: Chinese Government Inspections and Public Approval of Village Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Gu, Hongyan, 2016. "NIMBYism in China: Issues and prospects of public participation in facility siting," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 527-534.

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