Red Capitalists in China : The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change (Cambridge Modern China Series)
- Book Reviews,
by Bruce J. Dickson, William Kirby (Series Editor)
Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change FROM THE PUBLISHER "This book focuses on two related issues: whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing and able to adapt to the economic environment its reforms are bringing about and whether China's "red capitalists," private entrepreneurs who also belong to the communist party, are likely to be agents of political change." Comparisons with other countries, primarily in East Asia and Eastern Europe, historical comparisons with pre-1949 China, primary materials on contemporary China, and most importantly original survey data are used to help clarify the relationship between entrepreneurs and the CCP, the often intense debate over whether entrepreneurs should be allowed into the CCP, and the political implications of the growing numbers of red capitalists in China.
FROM THE CRITICS Foreign Affairs In seeking enlightenment about where China may be heading with its peculiar combination of a Leninist political system and a market economy, Dickson examines in some detail the attitudes and behaviors of the rapidly emerging class of Chinese private entrepreneurs. Even before Jiang Zemin's 2001 declaration that private entrepreneurs should be allowed to join the party, businessmen already sought the advantages of membership. Based on responses to carefully designed questionnaires, Dickson finds that in response to the party's demonstration of remarkable adaptability, business leaders easily took on the role of "red capitalists." The result is a form of corporatist bonding between the state and civil society, which Dickson believes will give China a high degree of political stability. He throws a bit of cold water, however, on the hopes of those who expect such a business-based civil society to bring democracy to China in the near future. What he does foresee is a steady improvement in the lives of a growing middle class. But if democracy is to come, there will have to be a crisis that splits the party elite.
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