Item Details
Skip Navigation Links
   ActiveUsers:4024Hits:20931071Skip Navigation Links
Show My Basket
Contact Us
IDSA Web Site
Ask Us
Today's News
HelpExpand Help
Advanced search

In Basket
  Journal Article   Journal Article
 

ID088459
Title ProperWhy do Similar Areas Adopt Different Developmental Strategies? A study of two puzzling Chinese provinces
LanguageENG
AuthorDonaldson, John A
Publication2009.
Summary / Abstract (Note)Focusing on Guizhou and Yunnan, two provinces with similar geographies, institutions and natural resource endowments, this paper asks why provincial leaders adopted markedly disparate economic strategies. Using data from the early 1980s to 2003 gathered from fieldwork and secondary sources, it focuses on three political factors purported to explain differences in provincial policy: (a) constraints and opportunities from central authorities; (b) characteristics of the provinces; and (c) attributes of individual provincial leaders. I argue that while the center constrains and encourages certain actions and approaches in the provinces, the experiences and background of individual provincial leaders further affects the choice of strategies implemented there. Moreover, once a particular course is set and receives central support, a form of path dependency can encourage the strategy to continue even after the original leaders have departed. While emphasizing the importance of characteristics of local leaders and their relationship with the center, the paper questions the assumptions on which research focusing on elite characteristics has so far been based, and suggests alternative approaches. The results have implications for our understanding not only of these two provinces, but also central-provincial relations and the origins of the economic policies of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
`In' analytical NoteJournal of Contemporary China Vol. 18, No.60; jun 2009: p 421-444
Journal SourceJournal of Contemporary China Vol. 18, No.60; jun 2009: p 421-444
Key WordsAreas Adopt Different ;  Developmental Strategies ;  Puzzling Chinese Provinces


 
 
Media / Other Links  Full Text