- The contributors are academics from various disciplines; they find extensive areas of agreement despite political differences
bull; The volume broaches a sensitive topic about which too few academics have recently written
bull; It finds empirical grounds for a new conceptualization of political legitimacy but also relies on qualitative research

The fourth generation of leaders of the People's Republic of China, while benefiting from the prestige of China's entry into the World Trade Organization and the honor of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, also needs to contemplate the sobering side-effects of a rapid and internationally-interdependent economy and a troubled and only partly reformed political system. This important book approaches the study of the PRC under Hu Jintao in a two-fold manner: by examining the new political parameters within which the party-state functions and by analyzing the prominent issues ? at home and abroad ?...

This volume is the first comprehensive study of China's ?political civilization? since the term was introduced by then Party Secretary Jiang Zemin in 2002. Selected among about 200 papers delivered at an international conference in Beijing in 2004, this collection of ten essays discusses the relations between ?political civilization? and political reform in China from the different perspectives of institution building, political culture, political theory, intra-party democracy, political participation, judiciary reform, legislative reform, and media reform. While the contributors are aware of...

The rise of China has thrown open many important and interesting questions: Will a strong China behave responsibly in world affairs, complying with the rules and norms of the ?international community?? Or will it defy ?universal standards?, and fight instead for its own interests and those of the developing world, thereby challenging the global order dominated by the West? The first of its kind to gauge in a comprehensive manner China's responsibility in world affairs, this book scrutinizes China's compliance with international rules and norms, embodied in the treaties that it has signed or...

- In-depth discussion on policies introduced by China's new leaders up to the second half of 2005
- Focus on issues that have aroused great attention, including increasing inequalities, land appropriation, social unrest, health care, the state of financial system, leadership succession, political reform, and China's relations with Southeast Asia
- Over a dozen of chapters on individual aspects of China showing a comprehensive and rich picture of a fast-growing and changing China
- Well-researched work by scholars who have been studying specific issues on China or Asia for years,...

There is widespread recognition--among policymakers, business communities, and scholars--of the importance of improving environmental policy and management in China. Environmental concerns in China have triggered the publication of a number of books on the subject. However, very few books offer an in-depth case study of the environmental challenges in Shanghai. This book aims to explore the extent to which Shanghai has managed to cope with water supply as well as water quality control challenges in terms of its sociopolitical and economic development since 1990, with a special reference to...

The book begins with an introduction which analyzes the state of cross-Strait economic and political relations on the eve of dual accession to the WTO and briefly introduces the chapters which follow. The first chapter discusses the concessions made by both sides in their accession agreements and is followed by two chapters which describe the manner in which the Taiwan economy was reformed to achieve compliance as well as the specific, restrictive trade regime that was put into place to manage mainland trade. The next two chapters deal with the implications of that restrictive trade regime...

China's Elite Politics provides a new theoretical perspective on elite politics in China and uses this theoretical perspective to explain power transfer from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao and political dynamics between different factional groups since the Sixteenth Party Congress of November 2002. It explains the transition in structural terms, presents characteristics of China's political elites, and analyzes the balance of power among formal institutions as well as among factional groups. It also examines political interactions between Jiang Zemin and his cronies on the one side and Hu Jintao...

The Chinese economy today is at a critical crossroads. Sustained rapid growth has given rise to structural strains as well as sectoral imbalances. It has also generated socio-economic problems such as rising income inequality, rural discontent and environmental degradation. All of these must be addressed before China can enter the next lap of high growth. Containing 12 chapters, this volume is the collaborative effort of leading economists from Beijing, Singapore and elsewhere in the region in analyzing China's economic growth prospects and their concomitant problems and constraints.

Contains articles which paint a picture of the attempts by the Chinese government to adopt and foster science and technology, the successes of the policies and the continuing challenges.