Springer Disputes Resolution in Urban Communities in Contemporary China

This book explains the causes, process, and results of group disputes in urban communities (the empirical experiences from Shanghai) in China. It explores the means and characteristics of as well as the differences in conflict resolution in various forms of state–society relations, particularly the ways of dealing with and resolving disputes concerning mass incidents involving government interests in China’s current social transformation period. It also analyzes how people’s mediation organizations interact with the local government when managing and defusing collective disputes. Combining the relevant theories and five conflict resolution measurement models created by Blake and Mouton (1964), this book explains the current interaction model and cooperation mechanism between the state and social organizations in China. To do so, it examines the role of the Lin Le People’s Mediation Workroom in dealing with community collective disputes and the respective action strategies and constraints. The book argues that the current state–social relations in China are not centered on society or the state, but on “state-led social pluralism.” From the Back Cover This book explains the causes, process, and results of group disputes in urban communities (the empirical experiences from Shanghai) in China. It explores the means and characteristics of as well as the differences in conflict resolution in various forms of state–society relations, particularly the ways of dealing with and resolving disputes concerning mass incidents involving government interests in China’s current social transformation period. It also analyzes how people’s mediation organizations interact with the local government when managing and defusing collective disputes. Combining the relevant theories and five conflict resolution measurement models created by Blake and Mouton (1964), this book explains the current interaction model and cooperation mechanism between the state and social organizations in China. To do so, it examines the role of the Lin Le People’s Mediation Workroom in dealing with community collective disputes and the respective action strategies and constraints. The book argues that the current state–social relations in China are not centered on society or the state, but on “state-led social pluralism.” About the Author Jieren Hu is an Associate Professor in the Law School at Tongji University. She is also the Research Fellow in the Center for Social Governance at Fudan University and the Visiting Scholar in the Center for China Studies at UC Berkeley. She got her Ph.D. at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2009. Her major researches focus on dispute resolution, social governance, and state–church relations in Mainland China. She has published quite a number of books, journal papers including those in Asian Survey, Journal of Contemporary China, China Information, etc., and in many Chinese academic journals. In addition to academics, she is the “double-thousand” expert nominated by the State Council of China, the expert mediator of the Second Intermediary Court in Shanghai, and the Member of Hong Kong and Macao Law Association and Shanghai Law Society.