Björn Alpermann – författare

The cotton processing industry is a distinct sector of China’s rural economy which recently underwent a momentous transition from plan to market. China is the world’s largest producer as well as consumer of cotton, and cotton processing links the agricultural production of this important commodity to China’s booming textile industry.Alpermann examines the political economy of the cotton processing industry, analyzes the process of cotton policy making and discusses reform outcomes on a national scale and the central state’s response. He then goes on to examine the implementation of economic transformation and institutional change in two traditional cotton-growing regions, looking at how local governments and the former monopolist cope with the changes brought about by marketization.Studying the cotton industry provides a lens through which to observe the changes in the way the state governs the economy during China’s transition and helps to assess the diverging claims about the nature of the political economy in China. As such China's Cotton Industry is an essential read for anyone studying Chinese business, econmics or politics.

Thirty years have passed since the beginning of the reform era in China which saw important changes in agriculture and rural organizations, but it is clear that certain entrenched legacies from pre-reform China still linger on even after WTO accession, most importantly the key role played by state actors and politics in the development of markets in rural China. Although increasingly diversified markets have emerged for major agricultural inputs and products, their development cannot be understood without taking this role into account.Against this backdrop, the contributors to this book offer a fresh account of rural politics and markets, consciously linking these two realms and highlighting their interconnectedness. The book is organized in three parts addressing respectively markets for agricultural inputs and outputs as well as current policies in rural development. The perspectives adopted link macro- and micro-level analysis in each chapter and thus contribute substantially to our understanding of existing markets.As an original account of rural politics and markets in China this book will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese politics, economics, development studies and political economy.

The cotton processing industry is a distinct sector of China’s rural economy which recently underwent a momentous transition from plan to market. China is the world’s largest producer as well as consumer of cotton, and cotton processing links the agricultural production of this important commodity to China’s booming textile industry.Alpermann examines the political economy of the cotton processing industry, analyzes the process of cotton policy making and discusses reform outcomes on a national scale and the central state’s response. He then goes on to examine the implementation of economic transformation and institutional change in two traditional cotton-growing regions, looking at how local governments and the former monopolist cope with the changes brought about by marketization.Studying the cotton industry provides a lens through which to observe the changes in the way the state governs the economy during China’s transition and helps to assess the diverging claims about the nature of the political economy in China. As such China's Cotton Industry is an essential read for anyone studying Chinese business, econmics or politics.

Chinas Gegenwartsgesellschaft gleicht einem sozialwissenschaftlichen Laboratorium: Einerseits ist sie einer rasanten Umgestaltung unterworfen, die in vielerlei Hinsicht Parallelen zur Entwicklung in westlichen Ländern aufweist. Andererseits finden diese Prozesse sozialen Wandels in anderer zeitlicher Abfolge und Geschwindigkeit, vor einem eigenen historischen und kulturellen Hintergrund und unter gänzlich anderen politischen Vorzeichen statt. Dies ermöglicht es, gängige soziologische Theorien nicht nur anzuwenden, sondern zugleich ihre Erklärungskraft für den Fall China kritisch zu hinterfragen. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes nehmen mit den Themen Familie, Bildung, Arbeit und Identität die neuralgischen Punkte der chinesischen Gesellschaft in den Blick. Damit trägt der Band sowohl zu einem vertieften Verständnis der chinesischen Moderne als auch zur soziologischen Theorieentwicklung bei.