 |
GetTextbooks.com
Compare Prices & Save up to 90% |
|
|
|
| Login | Sign up | My Wish List |
 | | Explaining Chinese Democratization by Shaohua Hu ISBN-10: 9780275965532 ISBN-10: 0-275-96553-8 ISBN-13: 9780275965532 ISBN-13: 978-0-275-96553-2 Hardcover 2000-01-30 Praeger Publishers Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Hu seeks to explain China's failure to establish a democratic system. He demonstrates both continuity and change in China's democratization process. Modern China regards power and wealth as primary goals and treats a strong state as a major means to these ends. Such a preference puts democracy on a back burner. Employing a theoretical framework which consists of five factors--historical legacies, local forces, the world system, socialist values, and economic development--Hu shows that, while all of these factors were at work in all eras, each assumes a special significance in a particular period. Traditional China before the 1911 Revolution attempted to adjust itself to a new, Western-dominated world. In the Republican era, the control of local forces topped the political agenda. Nationalist China sought to survive and develop in the world system, while Maoist China set for itself the task of building a socialist state. And, of course, economic development has been the priority of the Deng era. As Hu shows, these five factors have had determining impacts on the long struggle for democracy in China. | ||
Reviews | ||
Why China hasn't democratized & why it probably will Are you interested in Chinese history but impatient with simple-minded stereotypes about the influence of Confucian culture on political change? In your view, do citizens have a right to elect their leaders and to challenge mistaken government policies? Are you concerned about world peace? Then, take a look at Shaohua Hu's EXPLAINING CHINESE DEMOCRATIZATION. This book will help the reader understand why 20th-century China has not yet democratized but also why it might do so within the next decade. Dozens of books assert that China will or will not democratize in our lifetimes. Hundreds of articles discuss why the democratization of China is or is not a good idea. In contrast, Hu's book does more. It careful explains how domestic Chinese events have interacted with global or transnational forces with results unfavorable to democracy. At the same time, Shaohua Hu's carefully written book follows up on credible clues supporting an optimistic view of China's future. Although parts of the author's analysis will be challenged, EXPLAINING CHINESE DEMOCRATIZATION is an important recent book on these issues. | ||