Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

China as a Mirror and a Testing Ground for Governance Beyond the West

  • Chapter
Global Frontiers of Social Development in Theory and Practice

  • 188 Accesses

Abstract

In the age of globalization, social and environmental challenges are increasingly perceived on a global scale. The underlying assumption is that even the joint effort of all sovereign states cannot wield the influence to effectively address questions like climate change and global inequity. Subsequently, understandings of global politics have also shifted in the last decades. While traditional studies of international politics emphasize the role of sovereign states, governance scholarship has emphasized the role of nonstate actors. An overly state-centered view of politics should be criticized, but it should not lead to the conclusion that states (both as actors and institutional environments) do not matter anymore. Rather, governance as an analytical term should be related to specific governance contexts, in order to take stock of the (remaining) Influence of a wide variety of national state contexts in an age of globalization and pressing social and environmental transformations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alpermann, Björn. 2009, “Institutionalizing Village Governance in China.” Journal of Contemporary China 18(60): 397–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arimura, Toshi IL, Hibiki, Akira, and Katayama, Hajime, 2008. “Is a Voluntary Approach an Effective Environmental Policy Instrument? A Case for Environmental Management Systems.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 55(3): 281–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bäckstrand, Karin. 2005. “Accountability and Legitimacy of Networked Governance: Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development.” Paper read at 2005 Berlin Conference “International Organizations and Global Environmental Governance,” December 2–3, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benewick, Robert, Tong, Irene, and Howell, Jude, 2004, “Self-Governance and Community: A Preliminary Comparison between Villagers’ Committees and Urban Community Councils.” China Information 18(1): 11–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biermann, Frank, and Dingwertb, Klaus. 2004. “Global Fenvironmental Change and the Nation State.” Global Environmental Politics 4(1): 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boisot, Max, and Child, John. 1988. “The Iron Law of Fiefs: Bureaucratic Failure and the Problem of Governance in the Chinese Economic Reforms.” Administrative Science Quarterly 33(4): 507–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, Tanja A. E. and Risse, Thomas. 2005. “Public-Private Partnersliips: Effective and Legitimate Tools of International Governance?” In Edgar Grande and Louis W. Pauly (eds.), 195–216, Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-First Century (Toronto: Toronto University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cai, Tuo. 2004. “Global Governance: The Chinese Angle of View and Practice.” Social Sciences in China 25(2): 57–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callahan, William. 2004. Contingent State: Greater China-and, Tra-nsnational Relations. Minneapolis: LTniversity of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cashore, Benjamin. 2002, “Legitimacy and Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non-Slate Market-Driven (NSMD) Governance Systems Gain Rule-Making Authority.” Governance 15(4): 503–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, Gerald, 2008. “Global Governance with Cliinesc Characteristics? A Preliminary Analysis.” The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies 26(2): 82–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, Sander. 2009. “Partnerships for Sustainable Development in China: Adaptation of a Global Governance Instrument.” European Journal of East-Asian Studies 8(1): 121–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, Sander. 2012. “Partnersliips for Sustainable Development beyond the OECD World: Comparing China and India.” In Philipp Pattberg, Frank Biermann, Sander Chan, and Aysem Mert (eds.): 115–136, Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development. Emergence, Influence and Legitimacy, (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, Wellington K. K. 2002. “Chinese American Business Networks and Trans Pacific Economic Relations Since the 1970s.” In Peter H. Koehn and Xiao-huang Yin (eds.), 145–61, The Expanding Roles of Chinese Americans in U.S. China Relations. Transnational Networks and Tram-Pacific Interactions (Armonfc, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, Anthony B. L., 2005. “The Politics of Administrative Reforms in Asia: Paradigms and Legacies, Paths and Diversities.” Governance: An International journal of Policy and Administration 18(2): 257–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, Tom, Dong, Lishen, and Painter, Martin. 2008. “Administrative Reform in China’s Central Government—How Much “Learning from the West’?” International Review of Administrathe Sciences 74(3): 351–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compagnon, Daniel, Chan, Sander, and Meri, Aysem. 2012. “The Changing Role of the State.” In Frank Biermann and Philipp Pattberg (eds.), 320, Global Environmental Governance Reconsidered (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).s

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper Ramo, Joshua 2004, The Beijing Consensus. London: The Foreign Policy Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, Robert. 1987. Production, Power and, World-Order: Social Forces in the Making of History. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, Claire A., Haufler, Virginia, and Porter, Tony 1999. Private Authority and International Affairs. Ed. James N. Rosenau, Global Politics. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deeney, John J. 2002. “A Neglected Minority in a Neglected Field: The Emerging Role of Chinese American Philanthropy in US-China Relations.” In Peter H. Koehn and Xiao-huang Yin (eds.) 162–184, The Expanding Roles of Chinese Americans in U.S.-China Relations. Transnational Networks and Trans-Pacific Interactions (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc).

    Google Scholar 

  • Drewry G., and Chan, Che-Po. 2001. “Civil Service Reform in the People’s Republic of China: Another Mirage of the New Global Paradigm of Public Administration?” International Review of Administrative Sciences 67(3): 461–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fulda, Andreas, Li, Yanyan. and Song, Qingliua. 2012. “New Strategies of Civil Society in China: A Case Study of the Network Governance Approach.” Journal of Contemporary China 21(76): 675–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guéhenno, Jean-Marie, 1995. The End-of the Nation-State. Trans. Victoria Elliott. First paperback edition ed. London: University of Minnesota Press (Original edition: La fin de la démocratie).

    Google Scholar 

  • Heilmann, Sebastian. 2008, “From Local Experiments to National Policy: The Origins of China’s Distinctive Policy Process.” The China Journal 59:1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Held, David, Nag, Eva-Maria, and Roger, Charles. 2011, “The Governance of Climate Change in China Preliminary Report.” LSE-AFD Climate Governance Programme, In LSE Global Governance Working Paper. London: London School of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holbtg, Heike, and Gillev, Bruce. 2010. “Reclaiming Legitimacy in China.” Politics and-Policy 35(3): 395–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooghe, Liesbcth, and Marks, Gary, 2003. “Unraveling the Central State, but How? Types of Multi-level Governance.” American Political Science Review 97(2): 245–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Yan, and Guo, Weiqing. 2006. “The Transnational Network and Labour Rights in China,” China Rights forum 3:57–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, John, and Messner, Dirk, 2006, “China and India as Emerging Global Governance Actors: Challenges for Developing and Developed Countries.” IDS Bulletin 37:107–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ikenberry, John G. 2008. “The Rise of China and the Future of the West Can the Liberal System Survive?” Foreign Affairs 87:23–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jing, Yijia, and Savas, E. S., 2009. “Managing Collaborative Service Delivery: Comparing China and the United States.” Public Administration Review 69:8101–8107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, Andrew, Wurzel, Rüdiger K. W., and Zito, Antliony. 2005. “The Rise of ‘New’ Policy Instruments in Comparative Perspective: Has Governance Eclipsed Government?” Political Studies 52(3): 477–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, David. and Swinton, Laura C. 2008. “China, Xinjiang, and the Transnational Security of Central Asia.” Critical Asian Studies 40(1): 89–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, Peter 11., and Yin, Xiao-htiang. 2002, The Vxpamling Roles of Chinese Americans in U.S.-China Relations. Transnational Networks and Trans-Pacific Interactions. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landell-Milis, Pierre, 2003, “Coming to Grips with Governance: The Lessons of Experience.” Journal of Contemporary China 12(35): 357–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Pak Kuen, and Chan, Lai-Ha, 2007. “Non-traditional Security Threats in China: Challenges ot Energy Shortage and Infectuous Diseases,” In Joseph Cheng (ed.), Challenges and Policy Programmes of China’s New Leadership (Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press): 297–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberthal, Kenneth. 1995, Governing in China: From Revolution through Reform. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Hongrnao. Xu, Zaitu, Xu, Youkai, and Wang, Jinxru. 2002. “Practice of Conserving Plans: Diversity through Traditional Beliefs: A Case Study in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China.” Biodiversity and, Conservation 11(4): 705–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu, Xiaobo. 2000. “Booty Socialism, Bureau-Preneurs, and the Stale in Transition: Organizational Corruption in China.” Comparative Politics 32(3): 273–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Min, Qingwen, Sun, Yehong, Van Schoubroeck, Frank, Liang, Luohui, and Deia Cruz, Mary Jane. 2003. “The GIAHS-Rice-Fish Culture: China Project Framework.” (Resources Science) 31(1): 10–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montinola, Gabriella, Qian, Yingyi, and Weingast, Barry R. 1996. “Federalism, Chinese Style: The Political Basis for Economic Success.” World Politics 48(1): 50–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morton, Katherine 2005. International Aid and, Chinais Environment: Taming the Yellow Dragon, Routledge Studies on China in Transition. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naugliton, Barry. 2008. “China’s Left Tilt: Pendulum Swing or Midcourse Correction?” In Li Cheng (ed.), China’s Changing Political Landscape. Prospects for Democracy (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press): 142–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, Kevin J., and Li, Lianjiang, 2006. Rightful Resistance in Rural China. Eds. Jack A. Goldstone, Dong McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly and Elisabeth J. Wood, Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 2005, Governance, in China-: China in the, Global Economy. Paris: OECD Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, David, and Gaebler, Ted. 1992. Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Transforming the Public Sector. Reading, MA: Addison — Weaky.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pang, Zhongying. “Cbina and the Global Governance.” Presentation held at Thinkl N China. February 21, 2012, Bridge Cafe, Wudaokou, Beijing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pei, Minxin. 2006. China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, B. Guy, and John Pierre, 1998. “Governance without Government? Rethinking Public Administration.” Journal of Public Administration Research and-Theory 8(2): 223–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollit, Christopher, and Boukaert, Geert. 2011. Public Management Reform. A Comparative Analysis: NPM, Governa,nce, and, the Neo-Wcberian State. Third ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qtan, Yingyi, and Weingasi, Barry R 1997. “Federalism as a Commitment to Preserving Market Incentives.’” Journal of Economic Perspectives I 1(4): 82–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quark, Amy A. 2011. “Transnational Governance as Contested Institution Building: China, Merchants, and Contract Rules in the Cotton Trade,” Politics and Society 39(3): 3–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risse, Thomas, and Lehmkuhl, Ursula, 2006, “Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood: New Modes of Governance?” In SFB-Govemance Working Paper Series. Berlin: Research Center (SFB) 700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenau. James N. 1995. “Governance in the Twenty-First Century,” Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and Intern ational Organizations 1(1): 13–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothbard, Murray N. 1966. “On the Importance of Revisionism for Our Time,” Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought 2(1): 3–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothbard, Murray N. 1979. “The Myth of Monolithic Communism.” Libertarian Review 8(1): 32–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saich, Tony. 2001. Governance and Politics of China. Houndmills, UK Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saich, Tony. 2000. “Negotiating the State: The Development of Social Organizations in China.” The, China Quarterly 161: 124–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saich, Tony, and Yang, Xuedong. 2003. “Innovation in China’s Local Gov ernance: ‘Open Recommendation and Selection.’” Pacific Affairs 76(2): 185–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, Xiaojun, Wang, Xiaodong, Huang, Jisu, Song, Qiang, and Liu, Yang. 2009. Zhonguo bugaoxing. Dashidai, da mubiaoji women deneiyou waihuan. (Unhappy China: The great time, grand vision, and our challenges.). Nanjing: Jiangsu renrnin chubanshe (Jiangsu people’s press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoker. Gerry. 1998. “Governance as Theory: Five Propositions.” International Social Science Journal 50(155): 17–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, Tie-jun, and Zhang, Zhilin. 2007. “Enlightenments of China’s Imprimatur System from New Public Management.” Journal of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication 15(1): 2–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treib, Oliver, Bahr, Holger, and Falkner, Gerda. 2007. “Modes of Govern ance: Towards a Conceptual Clarification.” Journal of European Public-Policy 14(1): 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, Kellee. 2004. “Off Balance: The Uninteded Consequences of Fiscal Federalism in China.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 9(2): 7–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, Lily L. 2007a. Accountability without Democracy: Solidary Groups and-Pub lic Goods Provision in Rural China. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, Lily L. 2007b. “Solidarity Groups, Informal Accountability, and Local Public Goods Provision in Rural China.” American Political Science Review 101(2): 356–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, Jennifer L. 2003. “Cultivating Environmental NGO-Business Partnerships in China.” China Business Review 30(6): 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Kersbergen, Kees, and Van Waarden, Frans. 2004. “Governance’ as a Bridge between Disciplines: Cross-Disciplinary Inspiration Regarding Shifts in Governance and Problems of Governabilky, Accountability and Legitimacy,” European Journal of Political Researches (2): 143–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogler, J. 2003. “Taking Institutions Seriously: How Regime Analysis Can Be Relevant: to Multilevel Environmental Governance.” Global Environmental Politics 3:2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Yizhou. 2005. Tanxun quanqiu zhuyi guoji guanxi (Intnational relations in a globalised perspective). Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wertestad, Jorgen. 2001. “Designing Effective Environmental Regimes: The Conditional Keys.” Global Governance 7:317–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener. Jonathan Baert. 1999. “Global Environmental Regulation: Instrument Choice in Legal Context,” The Tale Law Journal 108(4): 679–701.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, Jianchu, Ma, Erzi T., Tashi, Duojie, Fu, Yongshou, Lu, Zhi, and Melick, David. 2005. “Integrating Sacred Knowledge for Conservation: Cultures and Landscapes in Southwest China,” Ecology and, Society 10(2): 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu Xianchun (Deputy Commissioner, National Bureau of Statistics of China). 2009, “The System of Xiaokang Indicators: A Framework to Measure China’s Progress,” Presentation at The Third OECD World Forum Busan, October 27–30, 2009, Slides available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoccd/47/20/44120704.pdf. (accessed March 26, 2011).

  • Yan, Xuetong. 2001. “The Rise of China in Chinese Eves.” Journal of Contemporary Chines 10(26): 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Guobin, 2003. “The Co-evolution of the Internet and Civil Society in China.” Asian Survey 43(3): 405–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Kaifeng. 1998, “China’s 199S Administrative Reform and New Public Management: Applying a Comparative Framework,” International Journal of Public Administration 30(12): 1371–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, Keping. 2010, LC Toward an Incremental Democracy and Governance: Chinese Theories and Assessment Criteria.” New Political Science 24(2): 181–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, Zliengiiang, and Chen, Yugang. 2012. “A Preliminary Exploration of Global Co-governance Theory.” In Tuo Cat (ed.), Chinese Perspectives on Globalization and Autonomy (Leiden, UK: Brill): 27–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, Juanwen, and Liu, Jiiilong, 2009, “Fengshui Forest Management by the Buyi Ethnic Minority.’ in China.” Forest Ecology and Management 257(10): 2002–009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Yongjin. 2005. China Goes Global. London: The Foreign Policy Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, Shiping. 1997. Party vs. State in Post 1949 China: The Institutional Dilemma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, Yongriian. 2004. Globalization and State Transformation in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zweig, David, Chen, Changgui, and Rosen, Stanley. 2004. “Research Report. Globalization and Transnational Human Capital: Overseas and Returnee Scholars to China.” The China Quarterly 179:735–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zweig, David, Wang, Huiyao, and Lin, Howard. 2011. “Returnee Entrepreneurs: Impact on China’s Globalization Process,” Journal of Contemporary China 20(70): 413–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Sander Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthias Stepan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Brij Mohan

Copyright information

© 2015 Brij Mohan

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chan, S., Stepan, M. (2015). China as a Mirror and a Testing Ground for Governance Beyond the West. In: Mohan, B. (eds) Global Frontiers of Social Development in Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137460714_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation