From Sea Elections to State Control
China’s Unfinished Democratic Experiments and the Logic of Top-Down Governance
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Beschreibung
This book examines China’s grassroots electoral experiments and their transformation into instruments of centralized political control. It provides the first comprehensive, historically grounded analysis of village, township, and consultative elections from the 1980s to the present.
Tracing the rise of “sea elections” and their gradual institutional containment, the book shows how limited democratic practices emerged within a one-party system and were later restructured to reinforce state authority. It introduces the concept of “top-down governance logic” to explain how electoral participation can coexist with authoritarian resilience. Combining long-term field research, archival materials, and comparative political analysis, the book situates China’s experience within broader debates on authoritarian governance, democratic experimentation, political reform, and adaptive legitimacy. It demonstrates how elections in China functioned simultaneously as experiments in participation and mechanisms of political consolidation.
Lisheng Dong, Ph.D. (University of Antwerp, 1992), is Professor of Political Science and former Visiting Professor at the University of Zurich. An award-winning scholar, he received the IASIA Pierre de Celle Award (2012). He is the author of numerous books, including Public Administration Theories, Trump and the Hidden Empire, and The Glory Trap.
This book examines China’s grassroots electoral experiments and their transformation into instruments of centralized political control. It provides the first comprehensive, historically grounded analysis of village, township, and consultative elections from the 1980s to the present.
Tracing the rise of “sea elections” and their gradual institutional containment, the book shows how limited democratic practices emerged within a one-party system and were later restructured to reinforce state authority. It introduces the concept of “top-down governance logic” to explain how electoral participation can coexist with authoritarian resilience. Combining long-term field research, archival materials, and comparative political analysis, the book situates China’s experience within broader debates on authoritarian governance, democratic experimentation, political reform, and adaptive legitimacy. It demonstrates how elections in China functioned simultaneously as experiments in participation and mechanisms of political consolidation.
First integrated narrative of China’s local elections over four decades Introduces the concept of top-down governance logic Bridges theory and practice, offering case vignettes from first-hand participation alongside comparative analysis
Autor*in
Sam Lee
Themen in »From Sea Elections to State Control«
China grassroots elections authoritarian resilience governance democratization participation consultative elections top-down governance logic democratic experiments