China’s authoritarian path to development: is democratization possible?, by Liang Tang, Abingdon, Routledge, 2017, 263pp., ISBN: 978-1-138-01647-7

Abstract

This book attempts to explain why political reforms in China lag behind the country’s remarkable socioeconomic transformation which has been underway since reform and opening up. Despite consistent scholarly attention both in China and abroad, there appears to be no easy answer to the above conundrum. The author, an excellent political scientist now with the School of Political Science at Waseda University, analyses the dynamics of China’s political system not only through the lens of Western political research approaches, but also in the context of China’s unique historical and cultural experience. After receiving formal training in Orthodox Marxism political theory and history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at Beijing University, Dr Tang moved to Japan where he studied Western Political Theory. In his recent monograph, the author poses a question of why, despite all the rapid social and economic changes, the CCP has maintained its monopoly on political power. Furthermore, considering the bigger picture, the author seeks to understand the reality of China’s long and winding road to democracy. On the whole, the author argues in favor of analyzing Contemporary Chinese Politics under the framework of Western theories of democracy, with particular focus on Huntington’s model of the third wave of democratization. Simultaneously, Dr Tang emphasizes the necessity for studying the “preconditions” for China’s democratization. First, unlike traditional theories of democratization (which distinguish between two stages of “transition” and “consolidation”), the author proposes to add a new “pretransition” stage which he labels “a foundation-building stage for democratization”, thus emphasizing gradual changes in the process of democratization (page 17). Second, the author considers the effectiveness of China’s “authoritarian path of modernization”, arguing that it lays the foundation for subsequent democratic soft-landing and democratic consolidation (p. 17). Third, the author sets out to explore the phenomenon of “authoritarian transmutation”, the growth of civil society and its implications for the Chinese democracy movement (p. 18). The book consists of nine chapters (including the Introduction and the Conclusion). In Part I (Chapters 1 and 2), the author discusses China’s political institutions as a means of modernization. The focus here is on the relationship between the one-party system and China’s authoritarian developmentalism. The author analyses the CCP’s control over the military, state agencies, and social actors, arguing that the substitution of Mao’s era dogmatic socialism with pragmatism led to a series of legislative, administrative, and judiciary reforms, which, in turn, resulted in an increase in transparency and citizen participation. Part II (Chapters 3, 4, and 5) discusses the Chinese government’s strategy on economic, political, and social reforms. With regard to economic development strategy, the author discusses (1) the circumstances under which economic development became top priority, (2) social tensions and social conflicts associated with economic development, and (3) modifications in economic development arrangements. Chapter 4 focuses on political reforms. The author perceives China’s political reforms as an interplay of “political leadership, specific reform programs, and reform outcomes” (p. 123). Further, the author explains how the Chinese government promotes a “Chinese-style democracy” (an approach based on cultural relativism), concluding that “ongoing economic reform, government reform, limited adoption of democratic mechanisms in the policy process, and the bottom-up demand for democratization