Public Participation and State Building in China

This book explores non-electoral means of public participation in contemporary

China, both as an outcome of and a key contributor to the party-state’s

efforts to improve its governing capacity.

Examining consultative meetings, public hearings, and the use of surveys

and questionnaires in Zhejiang province, on an empirical level, the study

evaluates the historical development and institutional backgrounds of these

mechanisms, as well as provides a critical assessment of their achievements

and failures. At the same time, on a theoretical level, this book contributes

to the broader scholarship on contemporary Chinese politics and political

development within one-party regimes, as well as debates about state building

and democratisation. Relying on the distinction between access to and

exercise of power, it concludes that non-electoral public participation is in

fact a function of state building. Developing a state capable of producing

effective solutions to governing challenges, it is argued, requires public participation

in the governing process.

With analysis informed by interviews with local-level policy-makers and

officials, academics, and citizens’ representatives and activists, Public Participation


and State Building in China will be a valuable research resource for

students and scholars of Chinese politics, political science, and civil society.