Political Science 353: Reforms
in Post-Mao China
Spring 2001
Steven W. Lewis
T-TH 9:25-10:40
Baker Building 114
Office: Baker 224
Office Hours: T-TH 10:45-12:00 and by Appointment
Phone: 713-348-5832
E-Mail: swlewis@rice.edu
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Our most populous country is an excellent "laboratory"for
the social scientific study of political, economic and social
behavior. The Twentieth Century alone has seen many changes in
China's fundamental institutions: from imperial courts to military
regimes and single-party police states, from rural households
to international stock-holding companies, and from foot-binding
and slavery to mass movements and, more recently, democracy protests.
Moreover, there is much variation in the political, economic and
social institutions across the regions and cities of China today,
making it a very rich area for the study of institutions. This
course begins with the premise that understanding how China has
arrived at the last decade of this century can also help us understand
how other societies change, including such processes as democratization
and marketization.
Our goal in this class is to study and explain
the momentous transformations of the Post-Mao reform period in
a way that helps us understand change in societies in general.
In order to do so we will be reading and discussing many theoretical
and empirical works. As such, class participation will be an important
part of your final grade (20 percent), including both everyday
participation and one session in which you will lead discussion
on a reading or set of readings.
Three quizzes and two short essay assignments
(40 percent of total) on narrowly defined topics will help you
remember some key facts. And a final, research paper (12-15 pages
in length) will help you critique and evaluate existing theories,
as well as propose and evaluate some of your own. The final paper
is worth 40 percent and can be written on any topic related to
Chinese politics in the Post-Mao era, but it must be on a topic
decided on through consultation with me.
Except for the in-class quizzes, all written
assignments must be double-spaced, carefully-proofread, meticulously-cited,
legible hard copy (be sure and retain a copy for your own security).
Late papers will not be accepted. Any student with a documented
disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested
to speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions
will remain confidential. Students with disabilities should also
contact Disability Support Services in the Ley Student Center.
Required Texts: Textbooks
are available at the Campus Book Store in used and paperback form.
Most books and all articles are also on reserve at Fondren Library.
In addition, many articles are available through Fondren Library's
online electronic journal service or directly from the publishers
of the journals.
- Calhoun, Craig, (1994), Neither Gods
Nor Emperors, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Lu, Hsun, (1921), The True Story of
Ah Q, English ed., Boston: Cheng & Tsui Co.
- Lu, Xiaobo and Elizabeth Perry, ed., (1997)
Danwei : the Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical and
Comparative Perspective, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
- Przeworski, Adam, et al, (1995), Sustainable
Democracy, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Smith, Richard J., (1994), China's
Cultural Heritage, second ed., Boulder: Westview Press.
- Wang, James C. F., (1999), Contemporary
Chinese Politics, sixth ed., Englewood Cliffs: Prentice
Hall.
WEEKS ONE AND TWO (January 16, 18, 23, 25): Introduction to Social Science
and the Study of Chinese Politics, Resources for Research, and
Foundations of Political and Economic Institutions in Pre-Revolution
China.
- Smith, Richard,
(1994), chapters 1-6, 11.
- Lu, Hsun (1921),
all.
WEEK THREE (January
30, February 1): The Question of Political Culture.
Quiz One: Key Concepts of Theory Building and Features of Chinese
Political Geography.
- Nathan, Andrew,
(1993), "Is Chinese Culture Distinctive?" Journal
of Asian Studies, 52, no. 4, pp. 923-936. Available
Online
- Fei, Xiaotong,
(1992), From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society,
(a translation and critique by Gary Hamilton and Wang Zheng),
Berkeley, University of California Press, chapters 1, 4-5, 9-10,
12.
- Honig, Emily,
(1992), Creating Chinese Ethnicity: Subei People in Shanghai,
1850-1980, New Haven: Yale University Press, chapters
1, 6-8
- Pye, Lucien,
(1992), The Spirit of Chinese Politics, Harvard:
Harvard University Press, chapter 10.
WEEK FOUR (February
6, 8): State Building, Centralization and Cultural Revolution.
Quiz Two: Important Cultural Concepts.
- MacFarquhar,
Roderick, and John K. Fairbank, eds., (1987), The Cambridge
History of China: Volumes 14 -15, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, chapters 1-3, 7-8 in volume 14, chapters 2,6,
in volume 15.
- White, Lynn
T., (1989), Policies of Chaos: The Organizational Causes
of Violence in China's’s Cultural Revolution, Princeton:
Princeton University Press, chapter 1.
WEEK FIVE (February
13, 15): State Revolution and Coup D'Etats; The Politics of Succession
and the Study of Factions/Coalitions
- Nathan, Andrew
J, (1990), "A Factionalism Model for CCP Politics,"
in Andrew Nathan, China’s Crisis, New York:
Columbia University Press, pp. 23-37.
- Tsou, Tang,
(1986), "Prolegomenon to the Study of Informal Groups in
CCP Politics," in Tang Tsou, The Cultural Revolution
in Post-Mao Reforms, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
pp. 95-111.
- Nee, Victor
and Peng Lian, (1994), " Sleeping With the Enemy: A Dynamic
Model of Declining Political Commitment in State Socialism,"
Theory and Society, 23, pp. 253-296.
- Li, Cheng,
(2000), "Jiang Zemin's Successors: The Rise of the Fourth
Generation of Leaders in the PRC," China Quarterly.
Vol. 161, pp. 1-40. Available
Online
WEEKS SIX, SEVEN (February 20, 22, 27): Changing the Central Institutions
of the Party and the State, the Decentralization of Party and
State Authority During Transition.
Quiz Three: Important Actors and Institutions.
Note: No Class on March
1 (Instructor in Hong Kong), March 6, 8 (Spring Break)
Research Paper Prospectus (one paragraph) Due February 27.
First Short Essay Handed Out February 27, Due March 13.
- Wang, James
C.F., (1999), chapters 2-6, 9.
- Manion, Melanie,
(1992), "The Behavior of Middlemen in the Cadre Retirement
Policy Process," in Kenneth G. Lieberthal and David Lampton,
eds., Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision-Making in Post-Mao
China, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp.
216-244
- Burns, John
P., (1994), "Strengthening CCP Control of Leadership Selection:
The 1990 Nomenklatura," China Quarterly, No.
138, pp. 458-491. Available
Online Soon.
- O'Brien, Kevin
and Lianjiang Li, (2000), "Accommodating "Democracy"
in a One-Party State: Introducing Village Elections in China,"
China Quarterly, No. 162, pp. 465-489. Available Online
- Zweig, David
(2000), "The 'Externalities of Development': Can New Political
Institutions Manage Rural Conflict?" in Elizabeth J. Perry
and Mark Selden, ed., Chinese Society: Change, Conflict
and Resistance, London: Routledge, pp. 120-142.
WEEK EIGHT (March
13, 15): Tian An Men Square and Explaining China's Political Protests
During Transition; The Comparative Study of Revolution and Rebellion.
- Calhoun, Craig,
(1994), all.
- Karklins, Rasma
and Roger Peterson, (1993), "Decision Calculus of
Protesters and Regimes: Eastern Europe 1989," Journal
of Politics, vol. 55, no. 3. Available
Online
WEEK NINE
(March 20, 22): Marketization in the Largest Central Planned Economy.
- Naughton, Barry,
(1995), Growing Out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform,
1978-1993, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
chapters 6-8.
- Huang, Yasheng,
(1994), "Information, Bureaucracy, and Economic Reforms
in China and the Soviet Union," World Politics,
vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 102-134. Available
Online
WEEKS TEN, ELEVEN, TWELVE,
THIRTEEN (March 27, 29, April 3, 5, 10,
17, 19): China's Decentralized Privatization, or Making all Economics
Local.
No Class on April 12 (Spring
Recess).
Second Short Essay Assignment handed out March 29, Due April 5.
Final Research Paper Due April 19.
- Lu, Xiaobo
and Elizabeth Perry, ed., (1997) selected chapters from
Danwei.
- Wong, R. Bin.,
(1999), "Citizenship in Chinese History," in Michael
Hanagan and Charles Tilly, ed., Extending Citizenship,
Reconfiguring States, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &
Littlefield, pp. 97-122.
- Montinola, Gabriella,
Qian, Yingyi and Barry Weingast, (1995), "Federalism,
Chinese Style: The Political Basis for Economic Success in China,"
World Politics, 48, pp. 50-81. Available
Online
- Kelliher, Daniel,
(1992), Peasant Power in China: The Era of Rural Reform,
1979-1989, New Haven: Yale University Press, chapters
7-8.
- Walder, Andrew,
(1995), "Local Governments as Industrial Firms: An Organizational
Analysis of China's Transitional Economy," American
Journal of Sociology, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 263-301. Probably
Available Online
- Reddings, S.
Gordon, (1996), "Societal Transformation and the Contribution
of Authority Relations and Cooperation Norms in Overseas Chinese
Business," in Wei-Ming Tu, ed., Confucian Traditions
in East Asian Modernity, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, pp. 310-327.
- Hamilton, Gary,
(1996), "Overseas Chinese Capitalism," in Wei-Ming
Tu, ed., Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity,
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, pp. 328-342
- Nee, Victor
and Sijin Su, (1996), "Institutions, Social Ties,
and Commitment in China's Corporatist Transformation," in
J. McMillan and Barry Naughton, eds., Remaking Asian Economies:
The Growth of Market Institutions, Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press.
WEEK FOURTEEN (April 24, 26): China as a Society in Transition:
The Comparative Study of Marketizing, Democratizing Societies.
- Przeworski, Adam, et al, (1995), Sustainable Democracy, Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press, all.
- Shi, Tianjian,
(2000), "Cultural Values and Democracy in the People's Republic
of China," China Quarterly, No. 162, pp. 540-559.
Available Online
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Copyright 2000, Steven W. Lewis.
This page last updated January 18, 2001, by Steve Lewis (swlewis@rice.edu)