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About this item
Highlights
- A realist defense of constitutional democracy in China that challenges the assumptions of the so-called China Model With liberal democracies under strain and the Chinese government delivering stability and prosperity to its citizens, is democracy still an ideal worth pursuing in China?
- About the Author: Dongxian Jiang is assistant professor of Chinese studies in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Fordham University.
- 248 Pages
- Political Science, Political Ideologies
Description
Book Synopsis
A realist defense of constitutional democracy in China that challenges the assumptions of the so-called China Model
With liberal democracies under strain and the Chinese government delivering stability and prosperity to its citizens, is democracy still an ideal worth pursuing in China? In Why China Needs Democracy, Dongxian Jiang makes a powerful case for constitutional democracy in the Chinese context. Doing so, he challenges the so-called China Model, a normative vision that seeks to preserve China's "meritocratic" one-party system while making it more open, more participatory, and less repressive. Jiang offers instead a realist defense of constitutional democracy that is grounded in a clear-eyed analysis of China's political realities, a discerning critique of post-Mao moral and institutional problems, and a broad engagement with the findings of empirical political science on both democratic and authoritarian regimes. Jiang shows that the China Model fails on two realist grounds: it places unwarranted faith in the willingness of China's leadership to liberalize and share power with citizens; and even with limited power-sharing, the system would be unable to address one of China's deepest problems--the state's unchecked domination over ordinary people. For all its flaws, constitutional democracy remains an indispensable framework for limiting the state's authoritarian overreach. Jiang argues that when realism is understood in a more expansive, historically grounded way--not simply as short-term political feasibility--constitutional democracy in China can be seen to be a realistic and necessary path forward over the long term.About the Author
Dongxian Jiang is assistant professor of Chinese studies in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Fordham University.Dimensions (Overall): 9.25 Inches (H) x 6.12 Inches (W)
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 248
Genre: Political Science
Sub-Genre: Political Ideologies
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Theme: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
Format: Hardcover
Author: Dongxian Jiang
Language: English
Street Date: June 2, 2026
TCIN: 1005609651
UPC: 9780691277196
Item Number (DPCI): 247-45-2742
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 1 inches length x 6.12 inches width x 9.25 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1 pounds
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