Toward Better Governance in China An Unconventional Pathway of Political Reform

Toward Better Governance in China: An Unconventional Pathway of Political Reform takes a fresh look at the latest efforts made by Chinese leaders to promote governance-based reform. It asserts that the improvement of governance has now become a breakthrough point of the much-anticipated political reform. Although the Chinese government continues to play down expectations about political reform, many small-scale reform experiments have been quietly undertaken by Chinese leaders at various levels, including the recent round of administrative reform centered on the creation of super ministries, the enlargement of inner-party democracy within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the strengthening of local legislative bodies, and judicial reform designed to promote judicial independence and rule of law. This strategy calls for strengthening governing capacity and changing government functions.

Baogang Guo is associate professor of political science at Dalton State College in Georgia. Dennis Hickey is the James Morris Professor of Political Science at Missouri State University.