Workers and change in China : resistance, repression, responsiveness

"Strikes, protests, and riots by Chinese workers are rising. What impact is resistance having? This book uses extensive fieldwork and original statistical analysis to show that labour unrest is altering governance in China at all levels-but in a profoundly contradictory manner. Industrial conflict is yielding competing regional models of political control while spurring a general increase in both the state's repressive capacity and responsive capacity. The book thus examines both the causes and consequences of protest and shows how authorities can pursue multiple, clashing policies at once. Instead of taking sides in the old debate over whether non-democracies like China's are on the verge of collapse or have instead found ways of maintaining their power indefinitely, it explores the day-to-day evolution of autocratic rule. Finally, the book adopts a uniquely holistic approach, encompassing national trends in worker-state relations; local policymaking processes; and the dilemmas of individual officials and activists."