Development and Democracy: Are They Compatible in China?
Author(s)
Zheng, Yongnian
Abstract
Democracy’s failure to develop in contemporary China gave rise to an intense debate between the advocates of neoauthoritarianism and of democracy in mainland China. Because of the government’s crackdown against the 1989 democracy movement, this debate inside China was interrupted for a while. Yet both within China and among Chinese abroad, the debate is being revived. The state’s measures for economic and political stabilization and their relative success have led scholars and many politicians, both old and young, to conclude that China needs an authoritarian regime for fast and stable economic growth.
