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China's Regulatory State: A New Strategy for Globalization by
Author(s) -
SCOBELL ANDREW
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
political science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1538-165X
pISSN - 0032-3195
DOI - 10.1002/polq.12062
Subject(s) - china , globalization , state (computer science) , political science , corporation , regulatory state , politics , economic history , public administration , law , economics , algorithm , computer science
The widely accepted narrative of China’s reforms since 1978 reads as that of a communist party‐state embracing the market and enmeshing its economy within the global system. It is a compelling story of an autarkic Maoist regime starting cautiously by privatizing agriculture at the local level and opening a handful of special coastal zones to foreign investment before ultimately unabashedly embracing a booming nationwidemarket economy and absorbing more foreign direct investment than any other developing country. Roselyn Hsueh’s careful research reveals why this plot line is not only unsatisfactory but also inaccurate. Delving beneath the outer macroeconomic layer, the author uncovers a cyclical pattern of central government policies in which waves of liberalization are followed by counter‐waves of “reregulation.” Hsueh labels this dance the “Liberalization Two‐Step,” whereby what the state deregulates with one hand at the macro level, it reregulates with the other hand at the micro level. According to Hsueh, China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 did not significantly alter the situation, as Beijing has sought to give the appearance of complying with WTO commitments by loosening economy‐wide regulations while at the same time retaining “selective controls at the sectoral level” (p. 3). And this dance varies by sector, depending on the strategic value assigned to a particular industry. If Chinese leaders determine that a sector involves essential high technology and/or is vital to national security, then it will get special attention. Of Hsueh’s twomajor case studies: one, telecommunications, is a strategic industry and the other, textiles, is not. The former is methodically re‐regulated, while only specific segments of the latter sector are controlled. Other factors also determine Beijing’s level of state control: how state institutions are organized in a particular sector, and the specific history of a sector’s experience with the global economy. Through extensive interviews and painstaking research, Hsueh demonstrates a distinct pattern of government re‐regulation even after China joined theWTO. In the process, she demolishes themyth of an increasingly unfettered