A food safety factory shutdown has Americans hunting for baby formula. Readying themselves for a covid-19 lockdown, Chinese in Beijing emptied store shelves. Emerging from lockdown, some in Shanghai are visiting well-provisioned markets. U.S.-China agricultural trade is booming, but many are still being left hungry. Food security, sustainability and safety remain issues.
Popular Accountability and Regime Resilience in Reform-Era China
UC Berkeley's Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by Martin Dimitrov on the longevity of communist regimes is provided by examining their systems of popular accountability.
When:
February 26, 2010 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Where
Martin Dimitrov, Department of Government, Dartmouth College
Kevin O'Brien, Discussant. Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley
Communist autocracies have proven to be the longest-lived type of non-democratic regime. What accounts for this remarkable resilience? Traditionally, explanations have focused either on repression or on the cooptation of elites. This talk argues that the key to understanding the longevity of communist regimes is provided by examining their systems of popular accountability. In particular, the talk analyzes one specific channel for popular accountability: the citizen complaints system (letters and visits system or xinfang). Documents from the secret Eastern European communist party archives and neibu materials from China are used to analyze how citizen complaints created a channel for popular accountability that prolonged the lifespan of both the Eastern European and the Chinese communist regimes. The talk concludes by examining recent changes in the xinfang system in China and their implications for regime stability.
Cost:
Free
Event Website URL:
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