China's Regulatory State - (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) by Roselyn Hsueh Romano (Paperback)

About the Book

Investigating in depth how China implemented its economic policies between 1978 and 2010, Hsueh gives the most complete picture yet of China's regulatory state, particularly as it has shaped the telecommunications and textiles industries.

Book Synopsis

Today's China is governed by a new economic model that marks a radical break from the Mao and Deng eras; it departs fundamentally from both the East Asian developmental state and its own Communist past. It has not, however, adopted a liberal economic model. China has retained elements of statist control even though it has liberalized foreign direct investment more than any other developing country in recent years. This mode of global economic integration reveals much about China's state capacity and development strategy, which is based on retaining government control over critical sectors while meeting commitments made to the World Trade Organization.

In China's Regulatory State, Roselyn Hsueh demonstrates that China only appears to be a more liberal state; even as it introduces competition and devolves economic decisionmaking, the state has selectively imposed new regulations at the sectoral level, asserting and even tightening control over industry and market development, to achieve state goals. By investigating in depth how China implemented its economic policies between 1978 and 2010, Hsueh gives the most complete picture yet of China's regulatory state, particularly as it has shaped the telecommunications and textiles industries.

Hsueh contends that a logic of strategic value explains how the state, with its different levels of authority and maze of bureaucracies, interacts with new economic stakeholders to enhance its control in certain economic sectors while relinquishing control in others. Sectoral characteristics determine policy specifics although the organization of institutions and boom-bust cycles influence how the state reformulates old rules and creates new ones to maximize benefits and minimize costs after an initial phase of liberalization. This pathbreaking analysis of state goals, government-business relations, and methods of governance across industries in China also considers Japan's, South Korea's, and Taiwan's manifestly different approaches to globalization.

Review Quotes

Conceptually, theoretically, and empirically, China's Regulatory State: A New Strategy for Globalization is a pivotal contribution to the discourse on China's development model and regulatory landscape, to the literature on government-business relations, and to the understanding of patterns of state control as part of the discipline of political economy. Hsueh has accomplished a painstaking task of uncovering a critical facet of economic liberalization in China, further exploration of which might unearth newer aspects of China's development strategy or bring out newer interpretations.... The book, while interesting and useful for general readers, is indispensable for scholars, researchers and students of political economy, international business, and international economics.

Hsueh's book [is] a valuable addition to the rich literature that probes the complicated relationship between the state and businesses in the reforming China... In contrast to conventional studies that treat Chinese industry as a whole distinct from the state, the sectoral model allows Hsueh to differentiate between various industries according to their sectoral characteristics--their values to China's national security and competitiveness, in this study--and then examine their respective relationships to the government... a sectoral model makes it more explicit that the different endowments and strategic values attached to each industry determine policy designs and outcomes... the book is an excellent application of important developments in the literature on international and comparative political economy.. to China's specific context. The comparative studies that include cases from both China and other East Asian developmental states are effective in illustrating the complexity of China's reforms as well as placing them into a broader context.

I have no reservation in recommending this book as the most theoretically advanced and comprehensive statement on industrial policy in the contemporary China studies field. For those of us who relish dense factual narrativesthe book is a compelling read for its rich detail on variations in state strategies toward several important industries.

Is China a developmental state like its regional neighborsor an example of some other form of capitalism? Roselyn Hsueh's China's Regulatory State tackles this taxonomicalissue through case studies of industrial strategyin comparative perspective.... Hsueh seeks to explain thenature of China's developmental model, which is 'radicallydifferent from any we have seen before' (p. 2). Thisdeparture raises questions about the logic underlying itsparticular path.... differentiating state policy by sectorsheds light on common misconceptions of China's politicaleconomy. The fact that China attracts more FDI thanany other country, for example, does not mean that it alsohas the most liberalized economy.... In China, patterns of state regulationin different sectors are tied to the strategic value framework, rather than a statist impulse to limit foreign capitaland pursue industrial policy across the board.

Roselyn Hsueh has written a very good book about the transformation of the Chinese economy in the decade since the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is a solid piece of workand it will be of interest to scholars of the Chinese economy as well as policy makers who are interested in China's growing role in the global economy.

This book combines the accuracy and knowledge-based relevance of an academic studyby the best research standardswith a clearfluentand pedagogical way of introducing the reader to a rather complex set of issues. The quality of the book itself--a text perfectly editedbalanceddisplaying the appropriate tables and figures in the right places and allowing any level of readingfrom the layman up to the specialistdeserves compliments.

Through extensive interviews and painstaking research, Hsueh demonstrates a distinct pattern of government re-regulation even after China joined the WTO. In the process, she demolishes the myth of an increasingly unfettered Chinese economy.... This book is a must-read for students of political economy and for those seeking to make sense of contemporary China's complex economic landscape.

About the Author

Roselyn Hsueh is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Temple University.