Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2014
  • Article
  • World Politics

China's 'New Regionalism': Subnational Analysis in Chinese Political Economy

By: Meg Rithmire
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

The study of Chinese political economy has undergone a sea change since the late 1990s; instead of debating the origins and direction of national reform, scholars have turned to examining the origins of local economic variation. This essay reviews recent work in regional political economy of contemporary China. In keeping with a movement in comparative politics toward analyzing subnational politics, the "new regionalists" seek to identify and explain meaningful heterogeneity in the Chinese polity and economy. Yet they go further than simply using subnational cases to generate or test theories about Chinese politics; instead, they propose that subnational political economies in China are a function of endogenous change rather than a reaction to national priorities. After identifying differences between "new regionalism" and previous studies of decentralization in China, I discuss this work according to the theoretical approaches (institutional, ideational, and socio-historical) used to explain the origins of regional differences. I conclude by examining the limitations of the new regionalist agenda in comparative and historical context and suggesting that scholars move past unconditional acceptance of the causal power of "socialist legacies" and instead attend to the importance of changes in the post-Mao administrative hierarchy.

Keywords

China; Political Economy; Economy; Government and Politics; China

Citation

Rithmire, Meg. "China's 'New Regionalism': Subnational Analysis in Chinese Political Economy." World Politics 66, no. 1 (January 2014).
  • Read Now

About The Author

Meg Rithmire

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • April 2022
    • Comparative Politics

    Going Out or Opting Out? Capital, Political Vulnerability, and the State in China's Outward Investment

    By: Meg Rithmire
    • December 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Lattice Semiconductor and the Future of Chinese High-Tech Acquisitions in the United States

    By: Meg Rithmire
    • China Quarterly

    The Emergence of Mafia-like Business Systems in China

    By: Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen
More from the Author
  • Going Out or Opting Out? Capital, Political Vulnerability, and the State in China's Outward Investment By: Meg Rithmire
  • Lattice Semiconductor and the Future of Chinese High-Tech Acquisitions in the United States By: Meg Rithmire
  • The Emergence of Mafia-like Business Systems in China By: Meg Rithmire and Hao Chen
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College