Introduction to Chinese Politics

Overview

This course provides an introduction to the recent political developments, institutional partnerships, state-society relationships, and the global engagement of political actors in contemporary China. It will consider a number of approaches for conceptualizing, modelling, and analyzing the governance and politics of China utilizing a comparative perspective.

Lectures and Readings

1. The Path to Modernization [video] [podcast] [handout]

Esherick, J.W. (1995) “Ten Theses on the Chinese Revolution”, Modern China 21(1): 45-76.
Eggli, M. and Hasmath, R. (2023) “Thought Reform, Re-education and the Politics of Language and Discourse in China", in U. Berzina-Cerenkova (ed.), Discourse, Rhetoric and Shifting Political Behaviour in China. New York and Oxford: Routledge.
Brown, K. and Berzina-Cerenkova, U. (2018) “Ideology in the Era of Xi Jinping", Journal of Chinese Political Science 23(3): 323-339.

2. The Onset of Reforms [video] [podcast] [handout]

Burns, J.P. (1999) “The People’s Republic of China at 50: National Political Reform”, The China Quarterly 159: 580-594.
Gilley, B. (2008) “Legitimacy and Institutional Change: The Case of China”, Comparative Political Studies 41(3): 259-284.
Edney, K. (2015) “Building National Cohesion and Domestic Legitimacy: A Regime Security Approach to Soft Power in China“, Politics 35(3-4): 259-272.

3. Bureaucratic Operations and Configurations [video] [podcast] [handout]

Teets, J., Hasmath, R. and Lewis, O. (2017) “The Incentive to Innovate? The Behavior of Policymakers in China”, Journal of Chinese Political Science 22(4): 505-517. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Teets, J. and Hasmath, R. (2020) “The Evolution of Policy Experimentation in China”, Journal of Asian Public Policy 13(1): 49-59. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Lewis, O., Teets, J. and Hasmath, R. (2021) “Exploring Political Personalities: The Micro-Foundation of Local Policy Innovation in China”, Governance 35(1): 103-122. [audio paper: video and podcast]

4. Government-Private Enterprise Relationship [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hasmath, R. (2020) “The Century of Chinese Corporatism”, American Affairs 4(1): 194-206. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Dickson, B. (2007) “Integrating Wealth and Power in China: The Communist Party’s Embrace of the Private Sector”, The China Quarterly 192: 827-854.
Zhang, X. and Keith, J. (2017) “From Wealth to Power: China's New Economic Statecraft", The Washington Quarterly 40(1): 185-203.

5. Government-NGO Relationship [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hsu, J. and Hasmath, R. (2014) “The Local Corporatist State and NGO Relations in China”, Journal of Contemporary China 23(87): 516-534. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Hasmath, R. and Hsu, J. (2014) “Isomorphic Pressures, Epistemic Communities and State-NGO Interactions”, The China Quarterly 220: 936-954. [audio paper: video and podcast] [public talk: video and podcast]
Hsu, J., Hsu, C. and Hasmath, R. (2017) “NGO Strategies in an Authoritarian Context, and their Implications for Citizenship: The Case of the People’s Republic of China”, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 28(3): 1157-1179. [audio paper: video and podcast]

6. Popular Legitimacy and Accountability [video] [podcast] [handout]

Fukuyama, F. (2016) “Reflections on Chinese Governance”, Journal of Chinese Governance 1(3): 379-391.
Eaton, S. and Hasmath, R. (2021) “Economic Legitimation in a New Era: Public Attitudes About State Ownership and Market Regulation”, The China Quarterly 246: 447-472. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T., Teets, J., Hsu, J. and Hsu, C. (2022) “Citizens’ Expectations for Crisis Management and the Involvement of Civil Society Organizations in China”, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 51(2): 292-312. [audio paper: video and podcast]

7. Ideological Development and Performance [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hasmath, R. (2017) “White Cat, Black Cat or Good Cat? The Beijing Consensus as an Alternative Philosophy for Policy Deliberation”, China’s World 2(1): 12-24. [audio paper: video and podcast] [public talk: video and podcast]
MacDonald, A. and Hasmath, R. (2018) “Does Ideology Matter for the Citizenry in China? Public Attitudes and Preferences for Economic Policies”, Paper Presented at Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference (Chicago, USA), April 5-8.
Hsu, C., Teets, J. Hasmath, R., Hsu, J. and Hildebrandt, T. (2022) “The Construction and Performance of Citizenship in Contemporary China”, Journal of Contemporary China 31(138): 827-843. [audio paper: video and podcast]

8. Marginalized Groups [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hasmath, R. and MacDonald, A. (2018) “Beyond Special Privileges: The Discretionary Treatment of Ethnic Minorities in China’s Welfare System”, Journal of Social Policy 47(2): 295-316.
Hasmath, R. (2019) “What Explains the Rise of Majority-Minority Tensions and Conflict in Xinjiang?”, Central Asian Survey 38(1): 46-60. [audio paper: video and podcast] [public talk: video and podcast]
Hasmath, R. (2022) “Future Responses to Managing Muslim Ethnic Minorities in China: Lessons Learned from Global Approaches to Improving Inter-Ethnic Relations”, International Journal 77(1): 51-67. [audio paper: video and podcast]

9. Civil Society and Evolving Modes of Citizen Participation [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hasmath, R. (2023) “Discourse, Deliberation and Difference in an Authoritarian Public Sphere”, Journal of Deliberative Democracy 19(1): 1-10. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Teets, J., Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T., Hsu, C. and Hsu, J. (2022) “Volunteerism and Democratic Learning in an Authoritarian State: The Case of China”, Democratization 29(5): 879-898. [audio paper: video and podcast].
Tam, J. and Hasmath, R. (2015) “Navigating Uncertainty: The Survival Strategies of Religious NGOs in China”, Journal of Civil Society 11(3): 283-299. [audio paper: video and podcast]

10. Internationalization and its Effects [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hasmath, R. and Hsu, J. (2021) “Rethinking Global Civil Society in an Era of a Rising China”, The China Review 21(3): 221-246. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T. and Hsu, J. (2019) “Conceptualizing Government-Organized Non-Governmental Organizations”, Journal of Civil Society 15(3): 267-284. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Hsu, J., Hildebrandt, T. and Hasmath, R. (2016) “‘Going Out’ or Staying In? The Expansion of Chinese NGOs in Africa”, Development Policy Review 34(3): 423-439. [audio paper: video and podcast] [public talk: podcast]

11. Foreign Relations [video] [podcast] [handout]

Hasmath, R. and Wyzycka, N. (2023) “What Drives the EU’s Contemporary Strategic Engagement with China?”, China: An International Journal 21(3): 1-19. [public talk: video and podcast]
Wyzycka, N. and Hasmath, R. (2017) “The Impact of the European Union’s Policy Towards China’s Intellectual Property Regime”, International Political Science Review 38(5): 549-562. [audio paper: video and podcast]
Hasmath, R. (2023) “Convergence and Divergence in Policy Topics Among Think Tanks in China”, pp. 87-108 in M. Gromping and J. Teets (eds.) Lobbying the Autocrat: The Dynamics of Policy Advocacy in Non-Democracies. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.