Restructuring Political Power in China: Alliances and Opposition, 1978-1998

"Chen argues that to prevent party cadre opposition to market restructuring - the nemesis of change in other communist states - national leaders manipulated legislative channels and party regulations to allow citizen participation in the implementation of reform programs. Opportunistic realignments at the political level, involving the central leadership, local party cadres, and ordinary citizens, brought "people power" into the policymaking process. That power, suggests Chen, may also presage China's constitutional evolution toward a democratic form of government."--BOOK JACKET.