Chapter 1: Central control and local governance: the political economy of change since 1949
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The size and scale of China, as well as the historical experience of the Communist Party of China before 1949 have resulted in the People’s Republic always having had a unique central–local infrastructure for a Communist Party-state. Local governance as state–society relations at sub-provincial levels has certainly increased in salience with China’s economic growth and social complexity. All the same ever since 1949 the variable interaction between central control and local governance has been a constant characteristic of China’s political economy. This chapter provides a framework for understanding the causes and consequences of this creative tension and explores its evolution.

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