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This comprehensive volume is a three-part study of whether the Chinese political system has maintained a significant degree of regime legitimacy in the context of rising domestic discontent, in particular the popular protests against socio-economic inequality and environment degradation. Part I presents the scholarly debate on the theoretical refinement and empirical measurement of regime legitimacy in contemporary China. Part II focuses on the challenges to regime legitimacy of the increasingly widespread popular protests and civil activism. Part III examines the regime's responses to these challenges, including coercive repression, adaptation, and economic performance. This book finds that, while repression can hardly stop popular protests - and often backfires - economic performance legitimacy is increasingly difficult to be maintained. The only way out is the adaptation to the changing domestic and international environment.
The chapters in this collection were originally published in the Journal of Contemporary China.
List of contents
Part I: The Debate on the Regime Legitimacy in China 1. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Legitimacy? Contributing to a new research agenda
Peter Sandby-Thomas 2. Political Legitimacy in Contemporary China Revisited: theoretical refinement and empirical operationalization
Gunter Schubert 3. The Debate on Regime Legitimacy in China: bridging the wide gulf between Western and Chinese scholarship
Jinghan Zeng Part II: The Challenge of Popular Protests to the Regime Legitimacy 4. Political Process and Widespread Protests in China: The 2010 Labour Protest
Ou Yang Ray 5. Disorganized Popular Contention and Local Institutional Building in China
Feng Chen and Yi Kang 6. Pollution, Institutions and Street Protest in Urban China
Yang Zhong, Wonjae Hwang 7. Pushing the Envelope for Representation and Participation: The Case of Homeowner Activism in Beijing
Yousun Chung 8. Request for Environmental Information Disclosure in China: An Understanding from Legal Mobilization and Citizen Activism
Xinhong Wang Part III: Meeting the Challenge: Repression, Adaptation and Performance Legitimacy 9. Grand Mediation and Legitimacy Enhancement in Contemporary China: the Guang'an Model
Jieren Hu, Lingjian Zen 10. Performance Legitimacy, State Autonomy and China's Economic Miracle
Hongxing Yang, Dingxin Zhao 11. The Sichuan Earthquake and the Heavenly Mandate: Legitimizing Chinese rule through disaster discourse
Florian Schneider, Yih-jye Hwang 12. Repression Backfires: Tactical Radicalization and Protest Spectacle in Rural China
Kevin J. O'Brien, Yanhua Deng 13. Patrolling Harmony: Pre-emptive Authoritarianism and the Preservation of Stability in W County
Yan Xiaojun 14. Disorganized Popular Contention and Local Institutional Building in China
Feng Chen and Yi Kang
About the author
Suisheng Zhao is Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA, and founding editor of the
Journal of Contemporary China.
