The People's Congresses and Governance in China: Toward a Network Mode of Governance

The People's Congresses and Governance in China: Toward a Network Mode of Governance. By Ming Xia. London: Routledge, 2008. 320 pp. $135.00 (cloth).

Written by Ming Xia, professor of political science at the City University of New York, this book is a systemic and theoretical study of Chinese People's Congresses at the provincial level.

The book starts its discussion with three research questions: (1) Why and how have the Provincial People's Congresses (PPCs) gained both institutional maturity and expansion of power? (2) Did the PPCs play a developmental and assistant role in China's transition to a market-oriented economy and rule of law reform, and if so, how? (3) Along with the emergence of local legislatures, what type of governance has China evolved into?

Basing his arguments on the observation and analysis of all thirtyone PPCs in China and the reforms they have made in the past quarter century (1978-2003), the author claims that China has evolved from a hierarchy control system into a hybrid mode of governance - the "network governance" characterized by the hegemonic rule of the CPC and "co-opetition" (mohe): cooperation through competition or competition with cooperation among other major power players such as the government, the PCs, and the people's congress/court.

According to the author's explanation in the preface, the book is divided into four parts. The first part (Chapter 1) discusses the increasing significance of PPCs in Chinese politics and collates...