Description:
The aim of this book is to make sense of the recent reform of neighbourhood institutions in urban China. It builds on the observation that the late 1990s saw a comeback of the state in urban China after the increased economization of life in the 1980s had initially forced it to withdraw from society. The authors hypothesise that the central government has indeed displayed an impressive adaptive capacity with regards to the social problems in China's shequs. It has managed to bring the party-state back into urban society by enhancing its infrastructural power to provide better social welfare and improve public security. In testing this hypothesis, the book examines in great detail the rationales, strategies and impacts of this comeback by analyzing systematically how the reorganization of neighbourhood committees was actually conducted.
Review Quotes:
"The authors conduct a truly meaningful project as it contains many firsthand interviews based on several months of fieldwork in diverse regions of China. Despite this diversity, a coherent central theme is formed. The book is of interest to students and scholars of Chinese studies, development studies, urban studies, and Asian studies in general. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections." - CHOICE (April 2012)
'The Politics of Community Building provides a perceptive and intellectually lively guide to this evolving locus of urban governance.' - Benjamin L. Read, University of California, Santa Cruz; The China Journal (July 2013).
"Heberer and Göbel's book is recommended for scholars interested in fields ranging from Asian or Chinese Studies to Urban or Development Studies. Practitioners in these fields will also find this book to be an essential resource." - W. Ma, Department of Public Administration, College of Management, Shenzhen University