The Search for Deliberative Democracy in China

Product Description

This book investigates whether the theory of deliberative democracy - developed in the West to focus democratic theory on the legitimation that deliberation can afford - has any application to Chinese processes of democratization. It discovers pockets of theory useful to guide Chinese practices, and also Chinese practice that can educate the West.

Review

'For the first time, The Search for Deliberative Democracy in China brings to light the dazzling array of experiments in local democratic governance that is unfolding in contemporary China. This collection treats readers to lively and urgent debates about whether elite deliberation, village assemblies, or deliberative polls hold the greatest promise for political reform in an authentically Chinese register. Not least because it dispels the hubris that all democratic institutions must be built on the Anglo-European blueprint, this book is a must for students of deliberative theory and democratic practice.' - Archon Fung, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University, USA
'This volume presents fresh and illuminating data and perspectives on democracy in China.' - Teresa Wright, Pacific Affairs

About the Author

ETHAN J. LEIB is a Law Professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, USA.

BAOGANG HE is the Chair in International Studies at The School of Politics and International Studies, Deakin University, Australia.