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Citizens’ support for economic governance approaches in contemporary China

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Abstract

This study examines potential variations in everyday Chinese citizens’ support for two prevailing economic governance forms in contemporary China: the regulatory and statist approaches. Leveraging the Chinese Citizens Expectations of the State Survey, it argues that the current support for either forms of economic governance fall within a distinct societal cleavage between regime insiders and outsiders. The study suggests that there is widespread support for a regulatory governance approach across the general public, irrespective of the insider and outsider dualism. However, support for a statist governance approach is much stronger amongst regime insiders, who exhibit a skepticism of domestic privately owned firms. Furthermore, support for the statist governance approach is stronger amongst older age segments of the population and weaker with the more highly educated. These findings provide insights into potential social divisions over the role of the state in governing the economy. More broadly, the findings speak to the efficacy of popular legitimacy strategies for the Communist Party of China.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Melanie Manion and Yang Zhong for their valuable comments and suggestions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2021 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting.

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  1. Department of Political Science, University of Alberta, 10-10 HM Tory Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H4, Canada

    Reza Hasmath

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  1. Reza Hasmath
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Correspondence to Reza Hasmath.

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Hasmath, R. Citizens’ support for economic governance approaches in contemporary China. GPPG 3, 249–267 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43508-023-00075-0

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