Discontented miracle: Growth, conflict, and institutional adaptations in China

Abstract

China has been enjoying stellar economic growth for more than a quarter of a century. Yet the rapid growth amid market-oriented reforms has not been an unalloyed blessing. The “China Miracle” has been accompanied by soaring income inequality and rising social tensions, over-taxing China’s resource base and contributing to an environmental crisis. Despite substantial improvement in the standard of living and other social indicators, China’s leaders have, in the aftermath of the Tiananmen crackdown, steadfastly held back the opening up of the political system. In this volume, contributors from the disciplines of economics, political science, and sociology examine how existing institutions, broadly defined, might have exacerbated tensions in China’s evolving economy, society and polity as well as how institutional developments have been introduced to deal with existing or emerging conflicts and tensions.