Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:38:20.304Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A critical reappraisal of resident participation in China and France: ‘authoritarian deliberation’ goes global?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2018

Giulia C. Romano
Giulia C. Romano*
Affiliation:
Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST), University of Duisburg-Essen
*
Corresponding author: E-mail: giulia.romano@uni-due.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper, the first step of a project aiming at analysing the establishment of practices of resident participation and consultation in urban renewal in China, proposes a reflection upon these practices through a comparison with similar experiences in France. Identifying some convergences between the practices adopted in the two countries, the paper proposes to reflect upon such puzzling outcomes, provocatively questioning the classic distinction between authoritarian and democratic regimes. It suggests that our analyses and interpretations shall get rid of classical binary categorisations between regime types to embrace a comparative analysis of the policies and practices introduced in various local contexts, and reflect upon their underlying logics. In so doing, the paper engages with He and Warren's concept of ‘authoritarian deliberation’ as well as with the critiques expressed by a number of French scholars on concepts such as ‘participative democracy’ and ‘good governance’. Such a focus on the underlying logics rather than on regime types will show that the concept of ‘authoritarian deliberation’ does not only apply to authoritarian contexts. Rather, it represents a fruitful starting point to analyse and reflect upon instances of participation and deliberation in both democratic and authoritarian countries.

Keywords

Resident participationurban renewalauthoritarian deliberationChinaFrance
Type
Special Section, Authoritarian Deliberation Revisited (Edited by Baogang He and Hendrik Wagenaar)
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 709 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abram, S (2014) Rénovation urbaine et participation en angleterre: enseignements et comparaisons. In Deboulet, A and Lelévrier, C (eds), Rénovations Urbaines en Europe. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 85–94.Google Scholar
Arnstein, SR (1969) A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners 35, 214–224.Google Scholar
Bacqué, M-H, Rey, H and Sintomer, Y (2005) Introduction. La démocratie participative, un nouveau paradigme de l'action publique? In Gestion de proximité et démocratie participative. Paris: La Découverte, pp. 9–46.Google Scholar
Bacqué, M-H (2014) Introduction. In Deboulet, A and Lelévrier, C (eds), Rénovations urbaines en Europe. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 97–99.Google Scholar
Barrault-Stella, L (2012) Participer sous l'aile de la bureaucratie. Les effets de la concertation avec les familles dans la fabrique de la sectorisation scolaire. Participations 1, 103–125.Google Scholar
Bernt, M (2003) Rübergeklappt. Die ‘Behutsame Stadterneuerung’ im Berlin der 90er Jahre. Berlin: Schelzky & Jeep.Google Scholar
Bherer, L (2011) Les relations ambiguës entre participation et politiques publiques. Participations 1, 105–133.Google Scholar
Camau, M (2005) Remarques sur la consolidation autoritaire et ses limites. In Camau, M and Martinez, L (eds), L'autoritarisme dans le monde arabe. Soudan, Egypte, CEDEJ, pp. 9–51.Google Scholar
Carrel, M (2008) Faire participer les habitants dans une perspective comparée. In Guillemard, A (ed.), Où va la protection sociale? Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, pp. 355–371.Google Scholar
Dahrendorf, R (1997) Die Globalisierung und ihre sozialen Folgen werden zur nächsten Herausforderung einer Politik der Freiheit. An der Schwelle zum autoritären Jahrhundert. die Zeit, 14th November 1997, URL: http://www.zeit.de/1997/47/thema.txt.19971114.xml (accessed 19 February 2018).Google Scholar
Davis, D, Naughton, B and Perry, EJ (1995) Urban Spaces in Contemporary China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, L, Plattner, MF and Walker, C (2016) Authoritarianism Goes Global. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Deboulet, A (2014) «On ne nous a pas calculés… » participation et considération dans la rénovation urbaine. In Deboulet, A and Lelévrier, C (eds), Rénovations urbaines en Europe, Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 101–113.Google Scholar
Deboulet, A and Lelévrier, C (2014) Introduction: la rénovation urbaine sous le regard des chercheurs. In Rénovations urbaines en Europe. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 11–28.Google Scholar
Donzelot, J and Epstein, R (2006) Démocratie et participation: l'exemple de la renovation urbaine. Esprit (Paris, France 326, 5–34.Google Scholar
Duckett, J and Wang, H (2013) Extending political participation in China: new opportunities for citizens in the policy process. Journal of Asian Public Policy 6, 263–276.Google Scholar
Epstein, R (2013) La rénovation urbaine: Démolition-reconstruction de l'Etat. Paris: Les Presses de Sciences Po.Google Scholar
Fewsmith, J (2018), The 19th party congress: ringing in Xi Jinping's New Age. China Leadership Monitor, Winter 2018, Issue 55.Google Scholar
Fishkin, J (2018) Democracy When the People are Thinking. Revitalizing our Politics Through Public Deliberation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Geisser, V, Dabène, O and Massardier, G (2008) Autoritarismes démocratiques et démocraties autoritaires au XXIe siècle. Convergences Nord-Sud. Paris: La Découverte.Google Scholar
Glynos, J and Howarth, D (2007) Logics of Critical Explanation in Social and Political Theory. London, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
He, B (2004) Participatory and deliberative institutions in China. In Collection of the Essays Presented at the International Conference on Deliberative Democracy and Chinese Practice of Participatory and Deliberative Institutions. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshi, pp. 92–108.Google Scholar
He, B and Warren, M (2011) Authoritarian deliberation: the deliberative turn in China's political development. Perspectives on Politics 9, 269–289.Google Scholar
Hermet, G (2004) Un régime à pluralisme limité? A propos de la gouvernance démocratique, Révue française de Science Politique 54, 159–178.Google Scholar
Hsing, Y-T (2010) The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Insel, A (2005) La postdémocratie. Entre gouvernance et caudillisme. Revue du MAUSS 2, 121–136.Google Scholar
Lin, GCS (2009) Developing China: Land, Politics and Social Conditions. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Melo, AM and Simoes, SS (2014) Rénover le quartier, refaire les citoyens: une anthropologie de la participation vue de Lille-Sud. In Deboulet, A and Lelévrier, C (eds), Rénovations urbaines en Europe. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 115–124.Google Scholar
Nathan, A (2003) Authoritarian resilience. Journal of Democracy 14, 6–17.Google Scholar
Overney, L (2014) L’épreuve des démolitions à la Duchère : tactiques de résistance d'un collectif d'habitants. In Deboulet, A and Lelévrier, C (eds), Rénovations urbaines en Europe. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 125–134.Google Scholar
Pellizzoni, L (2013) Une idée sur le déclin ? Evaluer la nouvelle critique de la délibération publique. Participations 2, 87–118.Google Scholar
Romano, GC (2017) From Berlin to Yangzhou: an enquiry into the transfer of Careful Urban Renewal and a Chinese city's capacities to learn sustainability. Doctoral Thesis in Political Science, Sciences Po-Paris, 24 February 2017.Google Scholar
Weinstein, L and Ren, X (2009) The changing right to the city – urban renewal and housing rights in globalizing Shanghai and Mumbai. City & Community 8, 407–432.Google Scholar
Xinhua (2013) GDP not the only benchmark, but still important, China Daily USA [online], 10th December 2013, available at: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-12/10/content_17165245.htm (accessed 22 September 2016).Google Scholar
Yangzhou City Government (2006) Yangzhou shi gongzhong canyu chengshi guihua guanli de zanxing banfa. (Temporary Measures for Public Participation in City Planning and Management), Yangzhou.Google Scholar
Yangzhou City Government (2012) Yangzhou shi chengshi zongti guihua (2012-2020). (Yangzhou Statutory City Comprehensive Plan), Yangzhou City Urban Planning Bureau and Yangzhou City Urban Planning and Design Institute, Yangzhou.Google Scholar
Yangzhou City Government (2013) Yangzhou lishi wenhua mingcheng baohu guihua (Yangzhou Historical and Cultural Famous City Protection Plan), Yangzhou.Google Scholar
Yangzhou Old City Office (2010) Jia da gucheng baohu lidu chongfen diaodong jumin canyu gucheng baohu de jijixing – guanyu tuijin gongzhong cayu lao chengqu guihua he chuantong minju xiushan de diaoyan baogao. (Strengthen the level of protection of the old city by fully mobilising residents’ participation initiative in old city protection – Survey report concerning the promotion of public participation in planning for the old city and repairing traditional housing), Yangzhou, October 2010.Google Scholar
Zhao, S (2016) The ideological campaign in Xi's China. Rebuilding regime legitimacy. Asian Survey 56, 1168–1193.Google Scholar