Market forces and communist power : Local political institutions and economic development in China

Sammanfattning: A new bureaucratic model is taking shape at the local level in China. This new bureaucraticmodel is an important explanatory factor behind local government behaviour in rural areas.Local governments have actively promoted the development of township enterprises,which contributed to China's economic success. Rather than loosing power as aconsequence of far-reaching market reforms and privatisation, the Chinese Communistparty state organisation has been strengthened in the process.Failure cases with regard to government performance have been studied morefrequently than have successful cases. This thesis aims to provide insights on the politicalinstitutions under which government performs well. The principal question is to understandwhy local officials have actively worked to promote growth in China. It is a study of thenon-economic incentives of local officials which thereby contests the dominant explanationthat it is fiscal incentives presented to local governments which explain the economicsuccess of township enterprises. Its focus on micro-level incentives fills important gaps inthe literature on the developmental state as it enhances the understanding not only of howbut also of why states promote development. The findings have implications for theunderstanding of what constitutes `good governance'. Delegation to societal actors anddecentralisation to local levels have been important, but not sufficient by themselves, toproduce a positive outcome in the case of China.The main mechanism of cadre behavior in the developed areas of China is the intricateway local officials are held accountable to both local society and to higher levels of thestate. Original empirical material on the cadre responsibility system is presented. The newbureaucratic model taking shape at local levels resembles the market-governed state in itsstress on performance but is distinguished from the former in that content of evaluation isdifferent and that it is sustained by a hierarchical organisation. It is shown, further, thatChina has followed the same development path as its East Asian neighbours.