The Spread of Federalism in China and Its Impact
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A Primer on Governance Issues for China and Hong Kong
A Primer on Governance Issues for China and Hong Kong Michael DeGolyer October 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Canadian diplomatic relations with China. In recent years we usually think of China in terms of trade or currency issues or the potential impact of the booming Chinese economy. The political system is ignored as it is thought to be outside the western democratic tradition. This article looks at how modern China is dealing 2010 CanLIIDocs 256 with political forces arising from its increasingly capitalist economic system. It explains the very strong resistance to federalist theory although in some ways China seems headed toward a kind of de facto federalism. It suggests, particularly in the context of China-Hong Kong relations, we may be witnessing a new approach to governance which deserves to be better known among western states as they grapple with their own governance issues and as they try to come to terms with the emergence of China as a world power. entral authorities of the Peoples Republic Despite official denials that China practices any form of China are sensitive to even discussing of federalism, non-China based scholars such as Zheng Cfederalism. Those within China advocating Yongnian1 of the National University of Singapore federalism as a solution to China’s complex ethnic and may and do make the case for federalism in China. He regional relations have more than once run afoul of argues that in truth China governs itself behaviorally official suspicion that federalism is another name for as a de facto federalist state. -
Health Privatisation in China: from the Perspective of Subnational
Health Privatisation in China: from the Perspective of Subnational Governments By FENG Qian Submitted to Central European University Department of Political Science In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Science CEU eTD Collection Supervisor: Anil Duman Budapest, Hungary 2020 Abstract From 2009, the Chinese government started to promote the policy She Hui Ban Yi/SHBY that encourages private investment in hospitals. This strategy of promoting private investment in hospitals represents the overall privatisation trend in Chinese health policymaking. Building on the national level health policymaking, the thesis focuses on the subnational governments in China and explains why are this national initiative has been implemented differently at the subnational level. Most existing studies in this topic focus either on the national level policymaking, discussing the relations between welfare policies and regime type or ideologies; or on the efficiency of public versus private hospitals in health sector by evaluating the outcomes. The thesis aims to understand SHBY and privatisation in health mainly from the local governments’ perspective, analysing how the fiscal survival pressure and political incentives affect the actual health policymaking in local governments in China. Drawing on official statistics, government policies and existing studies, the thesis mainly consider two types of influencing factors, and categorises three types of responses at the subnational levels. While the implementation of this policy requires a lot of resources and efforts, the thesis emphasises that, firstly, for the local governments, the fiscal impact, especially the hard budget constraint from the central government and soft budget constraint to the local public sector, plays the key role in health privatisation policies in China. -
Fiscal Federalism in Chinese Taxation Wei Cui Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, [email protected]
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Allard Research Commons (Peter A. Allard School of Law) The Peter A. Allard School of Law Allard Research Commons Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2011 Fiscal Federalism in Chinese Taxation Wei Cui Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs Part of the Tax Law Commons Citation Details Wei Cui, "Fiscal Federalism in Chinese Taxation" (2011) 3 World Tax J 455. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Allard Research Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Allard Research Commons. Wei Cui* Fiscal Federalism in Chinese Taxation1 The recent policy literature on fiscal federalism in China has concentrated on the large “vertical fiscal gap” resulting in inadequate local provision of public goods and services. Thus there is an evident interest in giving local governments more taxing powers. After a brief historical survey, the article discusses a 1993 State Council directive that centralized taxing power. This has led local governments to make use of their control over tax administration to alter effective tax rates, and to the practice of “refund after collection”, whereby local governments disguise tax cuts as expenditures, following a logic opposite to tax expenditures. This study concludes, firstly, that the allocation of taxing power is still done outside the framework of the law, and secondly, that the government has not been able to settle on a stable allocation. -
Democracy in the Cities: a New Proposal for Chinese Reform
Bloch and TerBush: Democracy in the Cities: A New Proposal for Chinese Reform DEMOCRACY IN THE CITIES: A NEW PROPOSAL FOR CHINESE REFORM DAVID S. BLOCH* THOMAS TERBUSH** [I]t has been no easy job for a big developing country like China with a population of nearly 1.3 billion to have so considerably improved its hu- man rights situation in such a short period of time. -President Hu Jintao, People's Republic of China.' I. THE DILEMMA OF CHINESE DEMOCRACY A great deal has been written on the question of Chinese democracy. In practice and theory, democracy in China is enormously significant.2 This is because China is a rising military threat whose interests are often counter to those of the United States, as well as a demographic powerhouse with as much as a quarter of the world's population. In Mainland China, "the current official mythology.., holds that Chi- nese culture and democracy are incompatible."3 Many Mainland Chinese apparently believe that China's Confucian traditions are inconsistent with democratic practices--an idea with a pedigree that traces both to China's Attorney, Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, Palo Alto, California; admitted in Cali- fornia and the District of Columbia; B.A., Reed College (41BK); M.P.H., J.D. with honors, The George Washington University; 1997 Fellow in International Trade Law, University In- stitute of European Studies, Turin, Italy. ** Economist and Senior Analyst, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California and Tokyo, Japan; M.A., Ph.D., George Mason University. 1. President Hu Jintao, Enhanced Mutual Understanding and Trust Towards a Conserva- tive and Cooperative Relationship Between China and the United States, translated at www.asiasociety.org/speeches/jintao.htm (speech given by then-Vice President Hu Jintao). -
Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History
Mutiny in Hunan: Writing and Rewriting the “Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History By Jonathan Tang A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Wen-hsin Yeh, Chair Professor Peter Zinoman Professor You-tien Hsing Summer 2019 Mutiny in Hunan: Writing and Rewriting the “Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History Copyright 2019 By Jonathan Tang Abstract Mutiny in Hunan: Writing and Rewriting the “Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History By Jonathan Tang Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Wen-hsin Yeh, Chair This dissertation examines a 1920 mutiny in Pingjiang County, Hunan Province, as a way of challenging the dominant narrative of the early republican period of Chinese history, often called the “Warlord Era.” The mutiny precipitated a change of power from Tan Yankai, a classically trained elite of the pre-imperial era, to Zhao Hengti, who had undergone military training in Japan. Conventional histories interpret this transition as Zhao having betrayed his erstwhile superior Tan, epitomizing the rise of warlordism and the disintegration of traditional civilian administration; this dissertation challenges these claims by showing that Tan and Zhao were not enemies in 1920, and that no such betrayal occurred. These same histories also claim that local governance during this period was fundamentally broken, necessitating the revolutionary party-state of the KMT and CCP to centralize power and restore order. Though this was undeniably a period of political turmoil, with endemic low-level armed conflict, this dissertation juxtaposes unpublished material with two of the more influential histories of the era to show how this narrative has been exaggerated to serve political aims. -
Final Chien and Wu Formatted
The Transformation of China’s Urban Entrepreneurialism: The Case Study of the City of Kunshan By Shiuh-Shen Chien, National Taiwan University Fulong Wu, University College London Abstract This article examines the formation and transformation of urban entrepreneurialism in the context of China’s market transition. Using the case study of Kunshan, which is ranked as one of the hundred “economically strongest county-level jurisdictions” in the country, the authors argue that two phases of urban entrepreneurialism—one from the 1990s until 2005, and another from 2005 onward—can be roughly distinguished. The first phase of urban entrepreneurialism was more market driven and locally initiated in the context of territorial competition. The second phase of urban entrepreneurialism involves greater intervention on the part of the state in the form of urban planning and top-down government coordination and regional collaboration. The evolution of Kunshan’s urban entrepreneurialism is not a result of deregulation or the retreat of the state. Rather, it is a consequence of reregulation by the municipal government with the goal of territorial consolidation. Introduction There is no doubt that local authorities the world over play a crucial role in promoting economic development in the context of globalization (Harvey 1989; Brenner 2003; Ward 2003; Jessop and Sum 2000). On the one hand, globalization may cause huge unexpected job loss when investors decide to shut down their companies and move out. Capital flight may also create opportunities in a different site. To deal with these challenges and opportunities, local authorities become entrepreneurial in improving their regions, in the hopes of accommodating more business investment and attracting more quality human capital. -
When Business Met Politics the Case of Want Want, a Different Type of Media Capital in Taiwan
China Perspectives 2017/2 | 2017 Processual Change in Taiwan When Business Met Politics The Case of Want Want, a Different Type of Media Capital in Taiwan Lihyun Lin and Chun-Yi Lee Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/7333 ISSN: 1996-4617 Publisher Centre d'étude français sur la Chine contemporaine Printed version Date of publication: 1 June 2017 Number of pages: 37-46 ISSN: 2070-3449 Electronic reference Lihyun Lin and Chun-Yi Lee, « When Business Met Politics », China Perspectives [Online], 2017/2 | 2017, Online since 01 June 2018, connection on 28 October 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ chinaperspectives/7333 © All rights reserved Special feature China perspectives When Business Met Politics The Case of Want Want, a Different Type of Media Capital in Taiwan LIHYUN LIN AND CHUN-YI LEE ABSTRACT: Since 2008, the Taiwanese business group Want Want, having made a fortune in China, has returned to Taiwan to buy a major media group and attempt to exert political influence on Taiwanese society. This paper analyses the rise and rationale of this new type of media inves - tor in the light of the business-government relationship under China’s model of state capitalism. According to the analysis developed in this paper, when China needed foreign investment in the early 1990s, Taiwanese investors were warmly welcomed by the Chinese government, which provided Taiwanese businesses with tax incentives at that time. After 2000, however, when not only domestic Chinese entrepreneurs emerged but also more non-Chinese investors entered the Chinese markets, Taiwanese businesses realised that the investment environment had become much more competitive, so they had to work hard on building ties with Chinese officials. -
Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style Lizhi Liu
University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository Minnesota Law Review 2018 Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style Lizhi Liu Barry R. Weingast Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Liu, Lizhi and Weingast, Barry R., "Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style" (2018). Minnesota Law Review. 111. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr/111 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Minnesota Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Minnesota Law Review collection by an authorized administrator of the Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Article Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style Lizhi Liu∗ & Barry R. Weingast† INTRODUCTION When a startup in the West invents a new form of consumer electronics and creates a website from which to sell its products, all of national law stands behind it, helping to reduce various forms of fraud, theft, and encroachment on intellectual property. Similarly, disputes that arise between the firm and its custom- ers, suppliers, or competitors are negotiated in a rich legal and commercial environment. Because China lacks a strong legal in- frastructure,1 a similar venture attempting to sell by website is far riskier. The inchoate, variable, and sometimes corrupt na- ture of the Chinese legal system makes the prevention and res- olution of legal problems much harder.2 Chinese startups and small and medium firms that sell products by their own website are considerably more vulnerable than similar ventures in Eu- rope or the United States. -
Federalism in Russia: How Is It Working
National Intelligence Council Federalism in Russia: How Is It Working Conference Report February 1999 This conference was sponsored by the National Intelligence Council and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the US Department of State. John Battilega of the Science Applications International Corporation served as rapporteur. The views expressed in this conference summary are those of individuals and do not represent official US Government positions or views. Contents Conference Highlights Section One: Opening Remarks Section Two: Federalism in Practice: A Comparative Approach Section Three: How Russian Federalism Is Working in Practice Section Four: Russian Regional Views on Federalism Section Five: How Real Is the Danger of Disintegration? Appendixes A. Conference Agenda B. Speaker Biographies C. The Prospect for Disintegration Is Significant D. The Prospect of Disintegration Is Low Conference Highlights On 9-10 December 1998 the National Intelligence Council and the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research jointly sponsored a conference that examined the current state of federalism in Russia. The conference consisted of 22 presentations from experts outside the government, interspersed with general discussion between the experts and government attendees. The agenda focused separately on global experiences with federalism, current institutional arrangements between the center and the regions, current political interactions between the center and the regions, and Russian regional views on federalism. The final session featured a competitive analysis of the case for and against disintegration. John Battilega of the Science Applications International Corporation served as rapporteur. Conference participants did not endeavor to produce a coordinated summary of findings. Nevertheless, most participants seemed in agreement on some major issues. -
Fiscal Decentralization in China: History, Impact, Challenges and Next Steps
ANNALS OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE 13-1, 1{51 (2012) Fiscal Decentralization in China: History, Impact, Challenges and Next Steps Chunli Shen CEMA, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China E-mail: [email protected] Jing Jin CEMA, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China and Heng-fu Zou CEMA, Central University of Finance and Economics Shenzhen University Peking University Wuhan University The World Bank Fiscal decentralization has been a fundamental aspect of China's transition to a market economy, and the country has made substantial effort to break down its highly centralized fiscal management system with various forms of fiscal contracting systems (1978-1993) and later a tax sharing system (1994- present). This paper is aimed to provide a comprehensive review of China's ex- perience in fiscal decentralization, explore the impact of fiscal decentralization on economic growth and public expenditures, and to identify political as well as economic issues arising after the 1994 tax sharing reform. As the government is shifting the development policy towards building a harmonious society, the current fiscal system requires immediate policy attention for its opaque and in- appropriate expenditure assignment, particularly at the sub-provincial levels, the vertical fiscal gap and widening fiscal disparities, the complex and mal- functioning intergovernmental transfer system, the neglected sub-provincial fiscal arrangements, and the weakness in the vertical accountability of local governments to the Center as well as the horizontal accountability of local administrations to local needs and preferences. Key Words: Fiscal decentralization; Fiscal federalism; Public finance; Fiscal policy; Public expenditure; China. JEL Classification Numbers: H1, H2, H3, H5, H7, R5. -
Divide and Connect: Inter-Administration Mobility of Political Elites in Reform China
Divide and Connect: Inter-Administration Mobility of Political Elites in Reform China Shilin Jia Department of Sociology, University of Chicago Introduction Division and connection are both essential and necessary components of any large-scale social organism. Division facilitates the efficiency of a system and differentiates its elements into different roles and domains. On the other hand, connection is needed for integrating different elements across social spaces via a social structure to prevent the system from falling apart. As stated in Durkheim ([1933] 1997, 84)'s classical work the Division of Labor in Society, there is an inherent tension between the two seemingly contradictory forces. One big challenge for a modern complex social organism is to figure out how these two contradictory forces could work together. In a large and complex social entity, an essential channel through which division and connection are enforced is career flows of personnels. Due to need for specialization and efficiency, people's career trajectories would tend to be separated into different domains in which they can stay focused on and develop their expertise. On the other hand, a career transfer across domains could facilitate informational exchange and bring benefits to both the involved individual and the organization (Kleinbaum 2012; Zuckerman et al. 2003). One often neglected point is that these two forces are actually inter-dependent. Career transfers, which can be seen as network ties between different subunits of a system, are always acts of division (decoupling) and connection (coupling) (White 2008, 2). Every move entails not only presence but also absence of ties. Whether a move is an act of connection or division depends on its topological relationship with other moves (Granovetter 1973). -
Rethinking the Twentieth Century Denigration of Traditional Chinese Science And
Rethinking the Twentieth Century Denigration of Traditional Chinese Science and Medicine in the Twenty-first Century Benjamin A. Elman Professor of East Asian Studies and History Princeton University Prepared for the 6th International Conference on The New Significance of Chinese Culture in the Twenty-first Century: "The Interaction and Confluence of Chinese and Non-Chinese Civilization," co-sponsored by the Himalaya Foundation and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, and held at the International Sinological Center at Charles University in Prague, The Czech Republic, November 1-2, 2003 Abstract: Western scholars and westernized Chinese scholars have often essentialized the European history of science as the universalist progress of knowledge. When Chinese studies of the natural world, her rich medieval traditions of alchemy, or pre-Jesuit mathematical and astronomical achievements are discussed, they are usually treated dismissively to contrast them with the triumphant objectivity and rationality of the modern sciences in Western Europe and the United States. Many twentieth century scholars were rightly convinced that pre-modern China had no industrial revolution and had never produced capitalism. As the evidence of a rich tradition of natural studies and medicine has accrued in volume after unrelenting volume of Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China project after 1954, it has become harder and harder to gainsay it all as superstition or irrationality or inductive luck. Ironically, the long-term history of Western science has been decisively refracted when viewed through the lenses chronicling the demise of traditional Chinese natural studies, technology, and medicine. Study of pre-modern Chinese science, technology, and medicine has restored a measure of respect to traditional Chinese natural studies and thereby granted priority to research in areas where the received wisdom was suspect, based as it was on careless speculation about banal generalities.