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State and Social Protests in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2022

Yongshun Cai
Affiliation:
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Chih-Jou Jay Chen
Affiliation:
Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology, Taipei, Taiwan

Summary

China has witnessed numerous incidents of social protests over the past three decades. Protests create uncertainty for authoritarian governments, and the Chinese government has created, strengthened, and coordinated multiple dispute-resolution institutions to manage social conflicts and protests. Accommodating the aggrieved prevents the accumulation of grievances in society, but concessions require resources. As the frequency and scale of collective action are closely tied to the political opportunity for action, the Chinese government has also contained protest by shaping the political opportunity available to the aggrieved. Cai and Chen show that when the Chinese central government prioritizes social control, as it has under Xi Jinping's leadership, it signals that it will tolerate local governments' use of coercion. The result is an environment that is not conducive to the mobilization of collective action, large-scale occurrences of which have been uncommon in China in recent years.
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State and Social Protests in China
  • Yongshun Cai, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Chih-Jou Jay Chen, Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Online ISBN: 9781108982924
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State and Social Protests in China
  • Yongshun Cai, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Chih-Jou Jay Chen, Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Online ISBN: 9781108982924
Available formats
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State and Social Protests in China
  • Yongshun Cai, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Chih-Jou Jay Chen, Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Online ISBN: 9781108982924
Available formats
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