Autocrats Can't Always Get What They Want: State Institutions and Autonomy under Authoritarianism (Emerging Democracies) - Hardcover

Nathan J Brown (author); Steven D Schaaf (author); Samer Anabtawi (author) & Julian G Waller (author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0472076973 ISBN 13: 9780472076970

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2024

Synopsis

Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City examines the complexities and changing sociopolitical dynamics of urban renewal in contemporary China. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in the northeastern Chinese city of Qingdao, the book tells the story of the slow, fragmented, and contentious transformation of Dabaodao—an area in the city’s former colonial center—from a place of common homes occupied by the urban poor into a showcase of architectural heritage and site for tourism and consumption. The ethnography provides a nuanced account of the diverse experiences and views of a range of groups involved in shaping, and being shaped, by the urban renewal process—local residents, migrant workers, preservationists, planners, and government officials—foregrounding the voices and experiences of marginal groups, such as migrants in the city. Unpacking structural reasons for urban developmental impasses, it paints a nuanced local picture of urban governance and political practice in contemporary urban China. Seeking a Future for the Past also weighs the positives and negatives of heritage preservation and scrutinizes the meanings and effects of “preservation” on diverse social actors. By zeroing in on the seemingly contradictory yet coexisting processes of urban stagnation and urban destruction, the book reveals the multifaceted challenges that China faces in reforming its urbanization practices and, ultimately, in managing its urban future.

About this title

About the Author

Nathan J. Brown is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University.
Steven D. Schaaf is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Mississippi.
Samer Anabtawi is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at University College London.
Julian G. Waller is Research Analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses and Professorial Lecturer in Political Science at George Washington University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472076973
• ISBN 13: 9780472076970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312