Capitalism Without Democracy: The Private Sector In Contemporary China
by Kellee S. Tsai /
2007 / English / PDF
11.6 MB Download
Over the past three decades, China has undergone a historic
transformation. Once illegal, its private business sector now
comprises 30 million businesses employing more than 200 million
people and accounting for half of China's Gross Domestic Product.
Yet despite the optimistic predictions of political observers and
global business leaders, the triumph of capitalism has not led to
substantial democratic reforms.
Over the past three decades, China has undergone a historic
transformation. Once illegal, its private business sector now
comprises 30 million businesses employing more than 200 million
people and accounting for half of China's Gross Domestic Product.
Yet despite the optimistic predictions of political observers and
global business leaders, the triumph of capitalism has not led to
substantial democratic reforms.
In
InCapitalism without Democracy
Capitalism without Democracy, Kellee S. Tsai focuses
on the activities and aspirations of the private entrepreneurs
who are driving China's economic growth. The famous images from
1989 of China's new capitalists supporting the students in
Tiananmen Square are, Tsai finds, outdated and misleading.
Chinese entrepreneurs are not agitating for democracy. Most are
working eighteen-hour days to stay in business, while others are
saving for their one child's education or planning to leave the
country. Many are Communist Party members. "Remarkably," Tsai
writes, "most entrepreneurs feel that the system generally works
for them."
, Kellee S. Tsai focuses
on the activities and aspirations of the private entrepreneurs
who are driving China's economic growth. The famous images from
1989 of China's new capitalists supporting the students in
Tiananmen Square are, Tsai finds, outdated and misleading.
Chinese entrepreneurs are not agitating for democracy. Most are
working eighteen-hour days to stay in business, while others are
saving for their one child's education or planning to leave the
country. Many are Communist Party members. "Remarkably," Tsai
writes, "most entrepreneurs feel that the system generally works
for them."
Tsai regards the quotidian activities of Chinese entrepreneurs as
subtler and possibly more effective than voting, lobbying, and
protesting in the streets. Indeed, major reforms in China's
formal institutions have enhanced the private sector's legitimacy
and security in the absence of mobilization by business owners.
In discreet collaboration with local officials, entrepreneurs
have created a range of adaptive informal institutions, which in
turn, have fundamentally altered China's political and regulatory
landscape. Based on years of research, hundreds of field
interviews, and a sweeping nationwide survey of private
entrepreneurs funded by the National Science Foundation,
Tsai regards the quotidian activities of Chinese entrepreneurs as
subtler and possibly more effective than voting, lobbying, and
protesting in the streets. Indeed, major reforms in China's
formal institutions have enhanced the private sector's legitimacy
and security in the absence of mobilization by business owners.
In discreet collaboration with local officials, entrepreneurs
have created a range of adaptive informal institutions, which in
turn, have fundamentally altered China's political and regulatory
landscape. Based on years of research, hundreds of field
interviews, and a sweeping nationwide survey of private
entrepreneurs funded by the National Science Foundation,Capitalism without Democracy
Capitalism without Democracy explodes the conventional
wisdom about the relationship between economic liberalism and
political freedom.
explodes the conventional
wisdom about the relationship between economic liberalism and
political freedom.