Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 218
•
Trim: 6½ x 9¼
978-1-5381-2957-9 • Hardback • June 2019 • $108.00 • (£83.00)
978-1-5381-2958-6 • Paperback • June 2019 • $40.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-5381-2959-3 • eBook • June 2019 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
Jean-Pierre Cabestan is professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is also senior research fellow in France’s National Center for Scientific Research.
The Chinese Political Regime’s Future: A Resurgent Debate
1 China’s Current Political System: A Strong, Sustainable, Authoritarian Equilibrium
2 Bureaucratic Tradition and the Soviet Model: Patterns of State Hegemony
3 Democratic Culture: Repressed, Fragile, and Distorted
4 Civil Society: Leashed by the Party-State
5 The Role of Elites: Shaping Political Evolution
6 China’s Future: Toward an Authoritarian and Imperial Political System
A Regime on Extended Reprieve About the Author
China Tomorrow is relevant to protestors’ demands for democratic elections under universal suffrage, and because he is a professor in Hong Kong, Cabestan’s analysis has been in demand. China Tomorrow’s explanation of ways in which freedoms granted often help to consolidate Party leadership over society is useful in understanding the restraint of the party-state and its willingness for disorder in Hong Kong to continue.
— The China Journal
The book is a careful and structured look at an emerging super power, and especially the carefully constructed party-state as it emerges under Xi. . . . The book makes an important and unapologetic contribution to a more realistic appreciation of modern China.
— Pacific Affairs
Cabestan has used his long scholarly engagement with China and wide reading to describe the remarkable hybridity of the Communist Party and the ways that this operates as a source of strength and flexibility. This is a nuanced and focused corrective to the more apocalyptic work on China's future—one that shows that while beset by challenges, the party's keen sense of survival and its use of opacity and control means it is likely to be the only viable game in town for some time yet.— Kerry Brown, King's College London
In this impressively well-informed book, Cabestan presents a comprehensive analysis of China’s political system, its history and culture, and its policies and achievements. He argues convincingly that even though the Chinese system is beset with difficulties, it is too strong to collapse for a long time to come. And even when the current system does finally weaken, it is likely to remain authoritarian and resistant to Western influence, only less orderly and more dangerous than it is today. This is a valuable contribution to our understanding of China today and our ability to understand its probable future.— Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University
Don't be misled by the question mark: China tomorrow—and for the next decade at least—will remain dictatorial. Most Chinese are grateful to the regime that relieved them from poverty. Far beyond this commonsense remark, Cabestan’s comprehensive analysis of factors such as democratic values, civil society, and the role of elites takes care to give full weight to every conceivable objection before concluding in favor of the party-state's resilience. For such an audacious synthesis dealing with the future to be convincing is both wonderful and unfortunate: Cabestan himself would prefer to be proven wrong.— Lucien Bianco, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
- A fresh evaluation of the PRC’s Soviet ideology, institutions, and practice.
- A clear presentation of the Chinese Communist Party’s “secret society” modus operandi
- Analyzes Chinese society’s political culture, an underestimated factor of stability and authoritarian resilience
- Assesses Chinese civil society’s emergence and its limited impact on future democratization
- Deconstructs China’s political, economic, and intellectual elites and their overall support for the regime
- Forecasts China’s mid- and long-term likely political future