Institutional Change and National Governance: Research on Political Development in China

Author: Yang Guangbin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: This book divides history into normal periods and critical moments, where the institutions formed during critical moments determine the basic political direction of normal periods. In normal periods, the form of institutions determines their performance; in critical moments, ideas are crucial for institutional change. Under the guidance of this theoretical paradigm, the book systematically examines critical moments in modern Chinese history, such as why capitalism failed to rise during the Ming and Qing dynasties, why the second modernization movement failed, why it lost to Japan, which had previously been behind it, and so on. The failure of the old system led to revolution, but the Beiyang warlord faction, which adhered to the jungle rules, plunged China into years of civil war. The Nationalist government in Nanjing inherited the crisis of state structure and the crisis of state-society relations, which ultimately led to its political legitimacy crisis and caused an avalanche-like collapse. The development of modern Chinese politics shows that institutions make all the difference.