Description: With more than one billion people, China represents both an ocean of economic opportunity and a frustrating backwater of continuing brutal political repression. What are the prospects for democratic evolution in a nation with one of the world's poorest human rights records? How have other nations responded to China since the recent, dramatic opening of its economic system-and how should they respond in the future? These are some of the most important questions confronting both the United States and the international community.
On democracy, human rights, and the move to integrate China into the international economy; on Mao Zedong's regime and the reform since his death; and on the Taiwan experiment and Hong Kong's reintegration with China, Nathan offers an accessible introduction to the intricate web of contemporary Chinese politics and China's changing place in the global system.Brief description: Andrew J. Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. He is the author of China's New Rulers: The Secret Files (New York Review of Books, 2002) with Bruce Gilley; the co-editor of Constructing Human Rights in the Age of Globalization (Routledge, 2003) with Mahmood Monshipouri, Neil Englehart, and Kavita Philip; and the co-editor of How East Asians View Democracy (CUP 2010) with Yun-han Chu, Larry Diamond, and Doh Chull Shin.
Review Quotes: [A] deeply perceptive and eloquent collection of essays.... What distinguishes Nathan's approach is that he takes up the political question of how to negotiate with Beijing about human rights.--New York Review of Books