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Thomas Heberer

Bio: Thomas Heberer is an academic researcher from University of Duisburg-Essen. The author has contributed to research in topics: China & Politics. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 110 publications receiving 1262 citations.


Papers
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Book
28 Apr 2011
TL;DR: In this article, political innovation without Democratization, social control, social fragmentation, and the reimposition of state power are discussed, and new schemes of social security are proposed.
Abstract: 1 Introduction: Political Innovation without Democratization 2 Social Control, Social Fragmentation, and the Reimposition of State Power 3 Enhancing Infrastructural Power: Shequ Organization 4 Legitimating Narratives 5 Shequ Governance 6 New Schemes of Social Security: Urban Neighbourhood Communities as Institutions of Output Legitimacy 7 Attitudes 8 Conclusion

61 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Abstract: Linking up with and critically assessing the recent literature on the local state in China, this article introduces a new framework to understand group behavior and strategic agency in local policy processes. Conceptualizing county and township cadres as a ‘strategic group’, the framework offers a number of analytical tools for better understanding the conditions of effective and ineffective policy implementation. Drawing on insights from development sociology, Bourdieu’s theory of capital formation and the garbage can model from organization theory, against a background of extensive fieldwork in numerous Chinese counties over the last years conducted by the authors, the article intends to theoretically substantiate the current knowledge of China scholars on the nexus between actors and their institutional environment in the Chinese local state.

52 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Perry et al. as mentioned in this paper presented a systematic analysis of the changes in political communication and power relationships at the local level, focusing on the grass-roots level for three crucial domains of local politics: a) village and township governance; b) urban spatial developments; and c) social protest behavior.
Abstract: Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. xii + 402 pp. US$24.95/£38.96/euro55.30 (paperback). It is frequently argued that China has changed economically and socially, but not politically. This book approaches the issue of political reform from a bottom-up perspective: the grass-roots level. It does not focus on prospects for democratization, but is rather concerned with the impact of local reforms on local politics and with the question of how grass-roots-level changes can improve local and thus national governance. Such processes are of fundamental importance for the stability and legitimacy of an authoritarian regime like China's. In this respect, the introduction of direct elections at the village level and new modes of social participation in China's cities clearly have an instrumental character. On the other hand, such innovations can also introduce new dynamics into the power structure of the Chinese political system. The key question of whether this process enhances regime legitimacy or erodes it stands at the centre of the book, as Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman stress in their introduction. The aim of the book is to produce a systematic analysis of the changes in political communication and power relationships at the local level. The focus is on the grass-roots level for three major reasons. The first is that the majority of the Chinese population lives in villages and urban neighborhoods. Hence, their political awareness and actions are of crucial importance for the political system and its stability. second, close spatial relationships at the local level enable constant interactions among the people; this facilitates the observation of participatory efforts and cooperation structures. Finally, political participation within a society can only be examined by means of analyzing the behavior of concrete groups. Such groups can be distinguished according to spatial (villages, neighborhoods), economic (businesses) or organizational aspects (for example, associations). The editors have chosen the spatial and organizational levels for their analysis, because they are interested in the extent to which the restructuring of those levels can furnish new impulses for participation as well as for generating trust, legitimacy and stability. Accordingly, this book addresses three crucial domains of local politics: a) village and township governance; b) urban spatial developments; and c) social protest behavior. In recent years, a growing number of scholars have stressed the great significance of direct elections for village committees. Although this aims primarily to consolidate and legitimate the control of the Party over the local population, Chinese and Western scholars have nonetheless repeatedly assumed that such "local autonomy" would surpass its prescribed regulatory boundaries and provide a dynamic push towards pluralization. Behind this assumption is the hope that the consolidation of local participatory processes could pave the way for the democratization of the political system. Several papers examine rural governance. Richard Levy's contribution, based on fieldwork in Henan and Guangdong, argues that, due to institutional deficiencies, village elections have failed to reduce corruption at the village level. For instance, vote-buying is rampant and accounting practices are rarely monitored. Effective checks and balances do not exist. John J. Kennedy's contribution argues that the central government was not interested in tax-for-fee reform in rural China during the 1990s. Instead, the government enforced village elections in order to foster greater transparency and to provide mechanisms for enhanced supervision from below. It believed that elections could facilitate the reduction of villagers' burdens. The chapter by Jean Oi and Zhao Shukai focuses on the causes and consequences of the townships' fiscal crisis. …

47 citations

Book
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: Heberer as mentioned in this paper conducted an in-depth analysis of "entrepreneurs" in China and Vietnam and found that private entrepreneurs have a strong desire for a true say in political decision making.
Abstract: With this book, Thomas Heberer has written the first in-depth analysis of "entrepreneurs" in China and Vietnam. Key question raised is the role played by entrepreneurs in the process of the recent astonishing political and economic change. Based on a survey among several hundreds of these entrepreneurs, the author convincingly argues that this strategic group has a strong desire for a true say in political decision making. As a body, a strategic group, they have indeed through various means come to exercise an important function in political development and change. It so becomes clear that over the past decades private entrepreneurs have grown into a primary leading, definitely distinct social group in terms of income and social status with considerable influence on all levels of society.

41 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2014

1,519 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The course is focused on historical texts, most of them philosophical as discussed by the authors, and context for understanding the texts and the course of democratic development will be provided in lecture and discussions, and by some background readings (Dunn).
Abstract: The course is focused on historical texts, most of them philosophical. Context for understanding the texts and the course of democratic development will be provided in lecture and discussions, and by some background readings (Dunn). We begin with the remarkable Athenian democracy, and its frequent enemy the Spartan oligarchy. In Athens legislation was passed directly by an assembly of all citizens, and executive officials were selected by lot rather than by competitive election. Athenian oligarchs such as Plato more admired Sparta, and their disdain for the democracy became the judgment of the ages, until well after the modern democratic revolutions. Marsilius of Padua in the early Middle Ages argued for popular sovereignty. The Italian citystates of the Middle Ages did without kings, and looked back to Rome and Greece for republican models. During the English Civil War republicans debated whether the few or the many should be full citizens of the regime. The English, French, and American revolutions struggled with justifying and establishing a representative democracy suitable for a large state, and relied on election rather than lot to select officials. The English established a constitutional monarchy, admired in Europe, and adapted by the Americans in their republican constitution. The American Revolution helped inspire the French, and the French inspired republican and democratic revolution throughout Europe during the 19 century.

1,210 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: It has been a long time since academic discussions about research and teaching were part of the board meetings of the department of Anthropology and Sociology of the University of Amsterdam as mentioned in this paper, and most of their meetings today deal with administrative problems.
Abstract: It’s been a long time since academic discussions about research and teaching were part of the board meetings of the department of Anthropology and Sociology of the University of Amsterdam. Most of our meetings today deal with administrative problems [...]

688 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Annual Oral Cancer Campaign of Araraquara as discussed by the authors is an extension activity which, since its beginning, in 1993, has been expanding and provides background for teaching and research as well as benefits to the regional community.
Abstract: The authors present the Annual Oral Cancer Campaign of Araraquara promoted by the Oral Medicine Service of the Araraquara Dental School – UNESP. This campaign is an extension activity which, since its beginning, in 1993, has been expanding.The campaign provides background for teaching and research as well as benefits to the regional community. In 1999 this activity was conducted, for the first time, in a public fair visited daily for thousands people. This opportunity, which started in 1999, promoted the expansion of benefits and contributed to legitimate the campaign as an authentic extramural extension activity.

619 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this paper, strong societies and weak states state society relations and state capabilities in the third world have been discussed, and the authors have shown that people have search hundreds of times for their chosen books like this strong societies, but end up in malicious downloads, rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.
Abstract: Thank you very much for reading strong societies and weak states state society relations and state capabilities in the third world. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their chosen books like this strong societies and weak states state society relations and state capabilities in the third world, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious bugs inside their desktop computer.

450 citations