Showing papers by "Thomas Heberer published in 2019"

Weapons of the Rich: Strategic Behavior and Collective Action of Private Entrepreneurs in China:

Abstract: This article, the product of several years of extensive fieldwork, seeks to reinvigorate the debate on China’s private entrepreneurs by arguing that they have become a “strategic group” within the ...

Decoding the Chinese puzzle: Rapid economic growth and social development despite a high level of corruption

Abstract: This paper examines why despite increasing corruption since the 1980s, China's development has advanced so rapidly. The author argues that a strong developmental state, the prevalence of "developmental corruption" over "predatory corruption" and a temporary and relative acceptance of leading local cadres' corrupt practices by the Chinese leadership contributed to a high level of economic development. The development model of purely quantitative growth has meanwhile been replaced by one in favor of more sustainable development. However, social groups benefitting from corrupt practices or having invested heavily in social relationships are opposing such a step. Therefore, the central political leadership resorts to a combination of fighting at the same time both political corruption and political opposition of individuals and organizations against its new development policies and anti-corruption drive. Thus, combating corruption is also a mechanism to enforce the new reform and development program.

Representation in a context across political orders and the Chinese case

Abstract: This paper sheds light on the issue of political representation in an authoritarian context, taking China as a case study. In the academic literature, the concept of political representation is pri...

The Critical Role of Local Governance in China’s Political System

Abstract: Why and how do the tiers of local government, and the modes of governance evolving around them, occupy a critical role in China’s authoritarian state structure? This chapter approaches this question by looking at one of the core functions embedded in local governance arrangements: policy implementation. The ability of continuously safeguarding a critical degree of output effectiveness amidst ever-increasing complexity and challenges is widely regarded as a pillar of state capacity and a symbol of regime adaptability in contemporary China. In fact, governance research needs a local perspective to examine ultimate policymaking where the state ‘meets the people’ and where policy outcomes become immediately relevant. And it is at the local level that the political system seems most flexible and adaptive.

No. 119 (2017): The Digital Turn in Political Representation in China

Abstract: This paper provides a literature review and preliminary field observations on the topic of political representation in the Chinese cyberspace. The authors demonstrate that multiple new communication platforms are being established in the Chinese cyberspace. These new platforms not only transform conventional forms of political representation but also create new representative patterns, such as in cases of interactive and connective e-representations. They conclude that the proliferation of new communication technologies has been transforming the relationships between representatives and represented as well as between the state and society. Furthermore, in this paper the authors take their analysis beyond the description of the Chinese case and argue that the Chinese case also contributes to the Western theory of political representation. More specifically, they question the performative nature of claim-making and the role of “performer” and the “audience”. They propose two concepts of interactive and connective e-representations and further claim that the current developments in the Chinese cyberspace may signal a new digital turn in the theory of political representation.