Governing China

The paramount leader of the world's most populous nation and most expansive economy holds no official position. The longest continuing political culture in world history has developed an elaborate bureaucracy but no settled means for regular succession at the top or political participation at the bottom. In this highly readable account, we enter China's real channels of power, known to all participants but invisible to most observers. It is a shadow world behind the formal organizational charts. With a focus on the period since 1949, Kenneth Lieberthal shows the ways of power precipitating out of the rush of historical events in twentieth-century China, and explores the key issues challenging China now—succession, economic growth, the environment, human rights, Hong Kong.

1995 / hardcover / ISBN 0-393-03787-8 / Maps / 512 pages / current events

Kenneth Lieberthal is professor of political science at the University of Michigan. An expert on top-level politics in China, he is an adviser to the State Department and the World Bank.