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Dilemmas of Reform in Jiang Zemin’s China

edited by Andrew J. Nathan, Zhaohui Hong and Steven R. Smith

As China enters a stage of economic reform more challenging and risky than any that has gone before, the pressure for political liberalization grows apace. This volume explores the dilemmas of this new phase of complex change.

The authors—most of whom write with the insight that comes from having lived and worked within the Chinese system—analyze how the evolution of China’s economic reforms is likely to affect its political system. Most counsel continued transformation of the economy in its present direction; but to follow this path without disorder, they caution, it will be necessary both to reshape an entire belief system and to reconstruct the social welfare system. Though the obstacles are considerable, they conclude that the post-Deng leadership does have the opportunity to offer China a comprehensive ideological, economic, and political “new deal.”

“Provides fresh insights [and] a systematic review of the three crucial dimensions—political, economic, and social—of China’s reform in the 1990s.”
Suisheng Zhao

About the authors.


Dilemmas of Reform in Jiang Zemin’s China