Economic Transformation and Its Political Discontents in China:
Authoritarianism, Unequal Growth, and the Dilemmas of Political Development
Dali L. Yang
Department of Political Science
University of Chicago
Shortened running title: China’s Political Discontents
Key words: economic reforms; political reforms; inequality; post-communist transitions
Abstract
China’s economic growth and transition pose fascinating questions for social
scientists. In the economic realm, proponents of the market-preserving federalism model
appear to have gone too far. In reality, China’s central leadership has retained the
prerogative to appoint top provincial officials as well as the power to reconfigure central-
provincial fiscal relations to defy predictions of the MPF model. In the social realm,
rapid growth has propelled the expansion of the middle class but the large increase in
inequality has sharpened social cleavages and class conflicts. The uncertainties of market
transition and rising social conflicts pose major challenges for the ruling elite and for
China’s political development.
Author contact information: Dali L. Yang, Department of Political Science, University of
Chicago, 5828 S. University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; email address:
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