Liberalisierung in Zeiten der Instabilität: Spielräume unkonventioneller Partizipation im autoritären Regime der VR China

Abstract

Unconventional participation is by no means regime-threatening per se, not even in an authoritarian regime like China. On the contrary, the Chinese government has been able to generate legitimacy by tolerating certain forms of unconventional participation and by localizing responsibility for solving conflicts. The current leadership in Beijing has chosen these strategies to channel protests, co-opt civic society and avoid blame - complementary to rather repressive forms of governance. An evaluation of protest events shows that she has succeeded in containing protests quantitatively as well as qualitatively (i.e. in scope and potential threat to the political system) by extension of opportunities to air grievances.