This course analyzes the governmental system in China as it has evolved since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The course examines governmental structures, political institutions, and the policy-making process. The primary focus of the course will be the post-Mao era of reform which began in 1978, including recent developments such as greater delegate involvement in the deliberations of the National People's Congress, direct elections of village leaders, opinion polling, and other examples of urban citizen participation. The course will also consider the state-society relationship: the development of 'corporatism' and 'civil society', and political culture change.
Prerequisites:
None
Method of presentation:
Seminar format, three hours per week.
Field study:
Occasional field trips.
Required work and form of assessment:
Readings for each class, class participation; combination of mid-term and final exams, short essays, research paper.
content:
1. Imperial legacies.
2. Government in the Republican period.
3. Government under Mao.
4. The present organizational structure at the Center: Party organization and government organization. The role of the National people's Congress.
5. The army.
6. Provinces, counties, cities, units.
7. The bureaucracy.
8. Law and the courts.
9. How the system actually works.
10. State and society.
11. Governance in the late reform period: changes in the NPC, village elections, development of 'corporatism' and 'civil society'. The new political culture.
12. Future prospects for China's political development.
Required readings:
Blecher, Marc. (1997) 'China Against the Tides: Restructuring Through Revolution, Radicalism and Reform'. Brook, Timothy and B. Michael Frolic. (1997). 'Civil Society in China'. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Lieberthal, Kenneth. (1995). 'Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform'. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Co.
Shi Tianjian. (1997). 'Political Participation in Beijing'. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Selected articles
Other Resources:
Meisner, Maurice J. (1999). 'Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic'. (New York: Free Press) White, Tyrene (ed.) (2000) 'China Briefing 2000: The Continuing Transformation'.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
W. Chad Futrell is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of Development Sociology at Cornell University. His two years of dissertation fieldwork on "Uneven Environmental Globalization and Networks in China and Korea” were supported by Fulbright-Hays and Korea Foundation fellowships, among others. Chad was a Korea Foundation Fellow at Korea University and has taught courses on Chinese Foreign Policy and International Relations, Chinese and Global Environmental Politics, Social Problems and Service Learning, and Qualitative Fieldwork Methods for study abroad programs in Beijing. Chad received an MS in Development Sociology and completed coursework for a MPS in Environmental Management at Cornell University. He also studied advanced Korean at Sogang University, received a Certificate of Advanced Chinese from IUP at Tsinghua University, and spent his undergraduate years studying religion and philosophy at UNC-Chapel Hill and University of Sussex. Since coming to the region in 1996, he has split his time between China and Korea, consulting and volunteering for numerous NGOs including Friends of Nature in Beijing and KFEM-Friends of the Earth Korea. Chad has published articles on civil society, NGOs, biodiversity and sandstorms in China and Korea as well as global environmentalism and American agriculture.
This course analyzes the governmental system in China as it has evolved since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The course examines governmental structures, political institutions, and the policy-making process. The primary focus of the course will be the post-Mao era of reform which began in 1978, including recent developments such as greater delegate involvement in the deliberations of the National People's Congress, direct elections of village leaders, opinion polling, and other examples of urban citizen participation. The course will also consider the state-society relationship: the development of 'corporatism' and 'civil society', and political culture change.
None
Seminar format, three hours per week.
Occasional field trips.
Readings for each class, class participation; combination of mid-term and final exams, short essays, research paper.
1. Imperial legacies.
2. Government in the Republican period.
3. Government under Mao.
4. The present organizational structure at the Center: Party organization and government organization. The role of the National people's Congress.
5. The army.
6. Provinces, counties, cities, units.
7. The bureaucracy.
8. Law and the courts.
9. How the system actually works.
10. State and society.
11. Governance in the late reform period: changes in the NPC, village elections, development of 'corporatism' and 'civil society'. The new political culture.
12. Future prospects for China's political development.
Blecher, Marc. (1997) 'China Against the Tides: Restructuring Through Revolution, Radicalism and Reform'. Brook, Timothy and B. Michael Frolic. (1997). 'Civil Society in China'. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Lieberthal, Kenneth. (1995). 'Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform'. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Co.
Shi Tianjian. (1997). 'Political Participation in Beijing'. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Selected articles
Meisner, Maurice J. (1999). 'Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic'. (New York: Free Press) White, Tyrene (ed.) (2000) 'China Briefing 2000: The Continuing Transformation'.
W. Chad Futrell is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of Development Sociology at Cornell University. His two years of dissertation fieldwork on "Uneven Environmental Globalization and Networks in China and Korea” were supported by Fulbright-Hays and Korea Foundation fellowships, among others. Chad was a Korea Foundation Fellow at Korea University and has taught courses on Chinese Foreign Policy and International Relations, Chinese and Global Environmental Politics, Social Problems and Service Learning, and Qualitative Fieldwork Methods for study abroad programs in Beijing. Chad received an MS in Development Sociology and completed coursework for a MPS in Environmental Management at Cornell University. He also studied advanced Korean at Sogang University, received a Certificate of Advanced Chinese from IUP at Tsinghua University, and spent his undergraduate years studying religion and philosophy at UNC-Chapel Hill and University of Sussex. Since coming to the region in 1996, he has split his time between China and Korea, consulting and volunteering for numerous NGOs including Friends of Nature in Beijing and KFEM-Friends of the Earth Korea. Chad has published articles on civil society, NGOs, biodiversity and sandstorms in China and Korea as well as global environmentalism and American agriculture.