The Art of Political Control in China (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)

When and why do people obey political authority when it runs against their own interests to do so? This book is about the channels beyond direct repression through which China's authoritarian state controls protest and implements ambitious policies from sweeping urbanization schemes that have displaced millions to family planning initiatives like the one-child policy. Daniel C. Mattingly argues that China's remarkable state capacity is not simply a product of coercive institutions such as the secret police or the military. Instead, the state uses local civil society groups as hidden but effective tools of informal control to suppress dissent and implement far-reaching policies. Drawing on evidence from qualitative case studies, experiments, and national surveys, the book challenges the conventional wisdom that a robust civil society strengthens political responsiveness. Surprisingly, it is communities that lack strong civil society groups that find it easiest to act collectively and spontaneously resist the state. "Governance is a problem of political control. For governments, the problem is how to control society: how to maintain order, enforce laws, collect revenue, and implement policy. For citizens, the problem is how to control their governments: how to ensure that political leaders respond to their demands and are held accountable if they do not. This problem of political control is especially severe in autocracies like China, where the state reaches further into people's everyday lives and where citizens have fewer avenues for holding officials accountable than in most democracies"-- Provided by publisher Contents Figures Tables Acknowledgments Introduction A Theory of Political Control The Communist Party's Governance Challenge Cultivating Civil Society Co-optation Infiltration Conclusion Additional Figures and Tables Survey Design Qualitative Research Design Bibliography