Routledge Debating Regime Legitimacy in Contemporary China: Popular Protests and Regime Performances

This comprehensive volume is a three-part study of whether the Chinese political system has maintained a significant degree of regime legitimacy in the context of rising domestic discontent, in particular the popular protests against socio-economic inequality and environment degradation. Part I presents the scholarly debate on the theoretical refinement and empirical measurement of regime legitimacy in contemporary China. Part II focuses on the challenges to regime legitimacy of the increasingly widespread popular protests and civil activism. Part III examines the regime’s responses to these challenges, including coercive repression, adaptation, and economic performance. This book finds that, while repression can hardly stop popular protests – and often backfires – economic performance legitimacy is increasingly difficult to be maintained. The only way out is the adaptation to the changing domestic and international environment. The chapters in this collection were originally published in the Journal of Contemporary China. Review THIS BOOK IS A USEFUL TOOL FOR WIDENING THE READER’S UNDERSTANDING of China’s regimelegitimacy; in particular, the various case studies highlight the complexity of the issue of politicallegitimacy within China... [p]enetrating China’s contemporary debate on regime legitimacy, and to understanding how the political system has succeeded in maintaining its legitimacy despite the rise of domestic discontent and protests. CLAUDIA ZANARDI, PhD Candidate, King’s College London, Department of War Studies About the Author Suisheng Zhao is Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA, and founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary China.