Lowell Dittmer – författare

This book is a study of the political consequences of economic reform in the People's Republic of China, considering the progress and pitfalls of Chinese reform socialism and focusing on the three central policy arenas of the reform era: political leadership, the mass public, and foreign policy.

Located in the center of Asia with one of the largest land frontiers in the world and 14 neighbors whose dispositions could not easily be predicted, China has long been obsessed with security. In this handbook, an internationally renowned team of contributors provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of contemporary thinking about Chinese national security. Chapters cover the PRC's historical, ideological and doctrinal heritage related to security, its security arrangements and policies targeting key regions and nations of the world, the security aspects of the PRC's ground, air, sea, space and cyber forces, as well as the changing and expanding definition and scope of China's security theory and practice.

At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. China's relation to Taiwan has been in constant contention since the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949 and the creation of the defeated Kuomintang (KMT) exile regime on the island two months later. The island's autonomous sovereignty has continually been challenged, initially because of the KMT's stubborn insistence that it continue to represent not just Taiwan but all of China and later, when the tables had turned, because Taiwan refused to cede sovereignty to the then-dominant power that had arisen on the other side of the Strait. One of the things that makes Taiwan so politically difficult and yet so intellectually fascinating is that it --is not merely a security problem, but a ganglion of interrelated puzzles. The optimistic hope of the Ma Ying-jeou administration for a new era of peace and cooperation foundered on a landslide victory by the Democratic Progressive Party, which has made clear its intent to distance Taiwan from China's political embrace.The Taiwanese are now waiting with bated breath as the relationship tautens. Why did detente fail, and what chance does Taiwan have without it? Contributors to this volume focus on three aspects of the evolving quandary: nationalistic identity, social economy, and political strategy.

China's Continuous Revolution: The Post-Liberation Epoch 1949-1981 explores the ambitious and transformative era of China's political landscape after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. This meticulously researched volume delves into the ideology of continuous revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and its profound impact on Chinese politics. Drawing from extensive interviews and historical analysis, the book examines key elements such as charismatic leadership, mass mobilization, and the complex restructuring of authority, highlighting the successes, failures, and eventual exhaustion of revolutionary zeal. It provides a nuanced perspective on China's socio-political evolution during a pivotal era of change, grappling with questions about legitimacy, power dynamics, and the role of ideology in shaping policy and governance.Dittmer's work also contrasts China's revolutionary trajectory with global ideological movements, presenting a critical examination of the enduring tensions between utopian aspirations and practical governance. By analyzing the Cultural Revolution, agricultural collectivization, and the broader socio-political reforms of the era, the book offers a compelling narrative of a nation's struggle to reconcile revolutionary ideals with the realities of modern state-building. Scholars, students, and readers interested in China's contemporary history and political development will find this an invaluable resource for understanding the complexities of revolution and reform in a rapidly transforming society.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

China's Continuous Revolution: The Post-Liberation Epoch 1949-1981 explores the ambitious and transformative era of China's political landscape after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. This meticulously researched volume delves into the ideology of continuous revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and its profound impact on Chinese politics. Drawing from extensive interviews and historical analysis, the book examines key elements such as charismatic leadership, mass mobilization, and the complex restructuring of authority, highlighting the successes, failures, and eventual exhaustion of revolutionary zeal. It provides a nuanced perspective on China's socio-political evolution during a pivotal era of change, grappling with questions about legitimacy, power dynamics, and the role of ideology in shaping policy and governance.Dittmer's work also contrasts China's revolutionary trajectory with global ideological movements, presenting a critical examination of the enduring tensions between utopian aspirations and practical governance. By analyzing the Cultural Revolution, agricultural collectivization, and the broader socio-political reforms of the era, the book offers a compelling narrative of a nation's struggle to reconcile revolutionary ideals with the realities of modern state-building. Scholars, students, and readers interested in China's contemporary history and political development will find this an invaluable resource for understanding the complexities of revolution and reform in a rapidly transforming society.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

The authors of Informal Politics in East Asia, first published in 2000, argue that political interaction within the informal dimension (behind-the-scenes politics) is at least as common and influential, though not always as transparent or coherent, as formal politics, and that this understudied category of social interaction merits more serious and methodical attention from social scientists. This book is a pioneering effort to delineate the various forms of informal politics within different East Asian political cultures and to develop some common theoretical principles for understanding how they work. Featured here are contributions by political scientists specializing in the regions of China, Taiwan, Japan, the Korean peninsula, and Vietnam. The authors apply to this dynamic region the classic core questions of politics: who gets what, when, how, and at whose expense?

The authors of Informal Politics in East Asia, first published in 2000, argue that political interaction within the informal dimension (behind-the-scenes politics) is at least as common and influential, though not always as transparent or coherent, as formal politics, and that this understudied category of social interaction merits more serious and methodical attention from social scientists. This book is a pioneering effort to delineate the various forms of informal politics within different East Asian political cultures and to develop some common theoretical principles for understanding how they work. Featured here are contributions by political scientists specializing in the regions of China, Taiwan, Japan, the Korean peninsula, and Vietnam. The authors apply to this dynamic region the classic core questions of politics: who gets what, when, how, and at whose expense?

China's rapid and complex political and socioeconomic changes provide fertile ground for pioneering analysis, but they also present daunting theoretical and practical challenges. This reader takes up the challenge, offering the most comprehensive assessment of Chinese domestic politics available by bringing together the best recent scholarship in the field. The anthology focuses on the origin, content, and significance of the post-1989 phase of China's reform and opening to the world, commonly known in the PRC as "deep reform." This period has been unfolding in interaction with globalization, marketization, privatization, political institutionalization, as well as with financial and legal changes. Deep reform includes new policy initiatives that have penetrated political, legal, economic, and social sectors untouched by previous initiatives as reformers have been forced to deal with the consequences—intended and unintended—of earlier reforms. These carefully selected essays by leading scholars have been revised and updated for this text. In addition, a substantive introduction and conclusion place the articles in their broader context for readers new to the subject. With the successful transition of the leadership of the party, state, and military since 2002, the time is ripe for a comprehensive evaluation of China's deep reform as it enters a new stage. This timely reader will offer students, scholars, and policymakers invaluable insights into the dynamics of change in one of the world's emerging political and economic dynamos.Contributions by: Marc Blecher, Bruce J. Dickson, Lowell Dittmer, Joseph Fewsmith, Ting Gong, Baogang Guo, William Hurst, Cheng Li, Guoli Liu, Andrew J. Nathan, Kevin J. O'Brien, Veronica Pearson, Randall Peerenboom, Yingyi Qian, Tony Saich, Tianjian Shi, Edward S. Steinfeld, Shaoguang Wang, Lynn White, Yu-Shan Wu, and Guobin Yang

China's rapid and complex political and socioeconomic changes provide fertile ground for pioneering analysis, but they also present daunting theoretical and practical challenges. This reader takes up the challenge, offering the most comprehensive assessment of Chinese domestic politics available by bringing together the best recent scholarship in the field. The anthology focuses on the origin, content, and significance of the post-1989 phase of China's reform and opening to the world, commonly known in the PRC as "deep reform." This period has been unfolding in interaction with globalization, marketization, privatization, political institutionalization, as well as with financial and legal changes. Deep reform includes new policy initiatives that have penetrated political, legal, economic, and social sectors untouched by previous initiatives as reformers have been forced to deal with the consequences—intended and unintended—of earlier reforms. These carefully selected essays by leading scholars have been revised and updated for this text. In addition, a substantive introduction and conclusion place the articles in their broader context for readers new to the subject. With the successful transition of the leadership of the party, state, and military since 2002, the time is ripe for a comprehensive evaluation of China's deep reform as it enters a new stage. This timely reader will offer students, scholars, and policymakers invaluable insights into the dynamics of change in one of the world's emerging political and economic dynamos.Contributions by: Marc Blecher, Bruce J. Dickson, Lowell Dittmer, Joseph Fewsmith, Ting Gong, Baogang Guo, William Hurst, Cheng Li, Guoli Liu, Andrew J. Nathan, Kevin J. O'Brien, Veronica Pearson, Randall Peerenboom, Yingyi Qian, Tony Saich, Tianjian Shi, Edward S. Steinfeld, Shaoguang Wang, Lynn White, Yu-Shan Wu, and Guobin Yang

The nuclear test explosions in India and Pakistan in 1998, followed by the outbreak of hostilities over Kashmir in 1999, marked a frightening new turn in the ancient, bitter enmity between the two nations. Although the tension was eclipsed by the events of 9/11 and the subsequent American attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, it has not disappeared, as evidenced by the 2001 attack in the Indian Parliament by Islamic fundamentalists out of Kashmir. By 2002, these two nuclear-armed neighbors seemed to be once again on the brink of war. This book outlines the strategic structure of the rivalry and the dynamic forces driving it, and investigates various possible solutions. The expert contributors focus on the India-Pakistan rivalry, but also consider the China factor in South Asia's nuclear security dilemma. Although essentially political-strategic in its approach, the book includes coverage of opposing military arsenals and the impact of local terrorism on the delicate balance of power.

The nuclear test explosions in India and Pakistan in 1998, followed by the outbreak of hostilities over Kashmir in 1999, marked a frightening new turn in the ancient, bitter enmity between the two nations. Although the tension was eclipsed by the events of 9/11 and the subsequent American attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, it has not disappeared, as evidenced by the 2001 attack in the Indian Parliament by Islamic fundamentalists out of Kashmir. By 2002, these two nuclear-armed neighbors seemed to be once again on the brink of war. This book outlines the strategic structure of the rivalry and the dynamic forces driving it, and investigates various possible solutions. The expert contributors focus on the India-Pakistan rivalry, but also consider the China factor in South Asia's nuclear security dilemma. Although essentially political-strategic in its approach, the book includes coverage of opposing military arsenals and the impact of local terrorism on the delicate balance of power.

How to define a Chinese national identity remains as hotly contested a question among today's Chinese citizens as it has been among foreign observers. This volume brings together ten new essays by an interdisciplinary group of leading sinologists and offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the nature of Chinese national identity in past and contemporary settings.

How to define a Chinese national identity remains as hotly contested a question among today's Chinese citizens as it has been among foreign observers. This volume brings together ten new essays by an interdisciplinary group of leading sinologists and offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the nature of Chinese national identity in past and contemporary settings.

When Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, China symbolically asserted its role as an emerging world power -- a position it is not likely to relinquish anytime soon. China's growing economy, military reforms, and staggering productivity have contributed to its ascendancy as a major player in international affairs. Western scholars have attempted to explain Chinese foreign policy using historical or theoretical evidence, but until this volume, few studies from a Chinese perspective have been published in English.In Challenges to Chinese Foreign Policy: Diplomacy, Globalization, and the Next World Power, editors Yufan Hao, C. X. George Wei, and Lowell Dittmer reveal how Chinese scholars view their nation's rise to global dominance. Drawing from a wealth of foreign relations experts including scholars native to the region, this volume examines the unique challenges China faces as it adapts in its role as a world leader, and it analyzes how China's evolving international relationships are shaping the global landscape of the twenty-first century.

When Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, China symbolically asserted its role as an emerging world power -- a position it is not likely to relinquish anytime soon. China's growing economy, military reforms, and staggering productivity have contributed to its ascendancy as a major player in international affairs. Western scholars have attempted to explain Chinese foreign policy using historical or theoretical evidence, but until this volume, few studies from a Chinese perspective have been published in English.In Challenges to Chinese Foreign Policy: Diplomacy, Globalization, and the Next World Power, editors Yufan Hao, C. X. George Wei, and Lowell Dittmer reveal how Chinese scholars view their nation's rise to global dominance. Drawing from a wealth of foreign relations experts including scholars native to the region, this volume examines the unique challenges China faces as it adapts in its role as a world leader, and it analyzes how China's evolving international relationships are shaping the global landscape of the twenty-first century.

This book is a study of the political consequences of economic reform in the People's Republic of China, considering the progress and pitfalls of Chinese reform socialism and focusing on the three central policy arenas of the reform era: political leadership, the mass public, and foreign policy.

Located in the center of Asia with one of the largest land frontiers in the world and 14 neighbors whose dispositions could not easily be predicted, China has long been obsessed with security. In this Handbook, an internationally renowned team of contributors provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of contemporary thinking about Chinese national security. Chapters cover the PRC’s historical, ideological and doctrinal heritage related to security, its security arrangements and policies targeting key regions and nations of the world, the security aspects of the PRC’s ground, air, sea, space and cyber forces, as well as the changing and expanding definition and scope of China’s security theory and practice.The Handbook is divided into three thematic parts:Part I focuses on national security, covering traditional views of security and the impact of China’s historical experience on current security dispositions as well as non-traditional security.Part II looks at China’s relations with the great powers, regional security and China’s involvement with collective security organizations.Part III provides an overview of China’s institutionalized security forces; looking at the army, navy, air force and Second Artillery (strategic nuclear forces) and offering analysis of China’s recent interest in space as a security concern and cybersecurity.This volume is essential reading for all students of Asian Security, Chinese Politics and International Relations.

This balanced and deeply informed book provides a comprehensive account of China’s Asia policy since the Cold War. Lowell Dittmer traces the PRC’s policy toward its Asian neighbors in the context of the country’s move from a developing nation to a great power, capable of playing a role in world politics commensurate with its remarkable economic rise. The author considers China’s bilateral relations with Russia, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia. Each of these relationships is also viewed in terms of China’s rivalry with the United States, which has viewed China’s rise with admiration tinged with a certain foreboding. Thus, Dittmer employs a triangular analysis to understand Beijing’s attempt to expand in Asia while at the same time deterring Washington’s interference. Reframing the international relations of Asia in a thought-provoking and informed manner, this important book presents a panoramic view of the dynamics at work on all sides of China.

This balanced and deeply informed book provides a comprehensive account of China’s Asia policy since the Cold War. Lowell Dittmer traces the PRC’s policy toward its Asian neighbors in the context of the country’s move from a developing nation to a great power, capable of playing a role in world politics commensurate with its remarkable economic rise. The author considers China’s bilateral relations with Russia, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia. Each of these relationships is also viewed in terms of China’s rivalry with the United States, which has viewed China’s rise with admiration tinged with a certain foreboding. Thus, Dittmer employs a triangular analysis to understand Beijing’s attempt to expand in Asia while at the same time deterring Washington’s interference. Reframing the international relations of Asia in a thought-provoking and informed manner, this important book presents a panoramic view of the dynamics at work on all sides of China.

By addressing the issues that decimated China's monolithic elite in the late 1960s, this text illuminates not only the life and fate of Liu Shaoqi, but also the policy-making process of a revolutionary state facing the diverting exigencies of economic modernization and political development.

By addressing the issues that decimated China's monolithic elite in the late 1960s, this text illuminates not only the life and fate of Liu Shaoqi, but also the policy-making process of a revolutionary state facing the diverting exigencies of economic modernization and political development.

This volume looks at China's foreign policy from the perspective of learning theory, a relatively new approach to foreign policy analysis based on social psychology. It begins by attempting to conceptualize China's distinctive approach to policy learning, and then proceeds with a tentative periodization of China's learning experience from 1979 to 1999. It concludes that Chinese foreign policy learning has exhibited a certain continuity since the founding of the People's Republic, with learning and teaching structured to alternate with and complement each other.

This book takes a fresh look at Chinese political economy at a key inflection point. Facing a more competitive international environment, Chinese reform has shifted from its earlier focus on economic liberalization and political decentralization to a more tightly organized, centralized form of state socialism. The Party-state's vigorous fiscal reaction to the Global Financial Crisis (2008-2009) left the country with a much improved infrastructure and greater sense of national self-assurance. The more monocratic central leadership has redoubled efforts to fight poverty and pollution, push technological innovation, and at the same time rigorously enforce ideological consensus, political loyalty and anticorruption.This has been occurring in an international context of slowing trade and nationalist pushback against "globalization", prominently including bilateral Chinese-American polarization. While China has been among the staunchest advocates and beneficiaries of globalization, incipient trade war "decoupling" has spurred movement toward economic and technological self-reliance. Turning inward however vies with a rival impulse toward more vigorous engagement in the world. This is most consequentially represented by the Belt and Road Initiative, driving massive infrastructure construction through Central Asia and the South and Southeast Asian maritime periphery. Despite slowing growth and a large debt overhang, swift recovery from the Covid-19 epidemic leaves China in a relatively strong economic position.

The recent uncertainties over the South China Sea have become one major issue in the relations between China and Southeast Asian countries. The South China Sea issue, however, is countered by the deepening economic integration between China and Southeast Asia, which is likely to continue should China's proposal for a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is agreed and implemented. Yet the success or not of this proposal depends also on the interactions in the political-security sphere between both sides.Southeast Asia and China: A Contest in Mutual Socialization brings together experts from different disciplines to illuminate on the complex political, economic and normative interactions between China and the Southeast Asian countries. This book analyses key issues including the national identity discourse of China as a Great Power, China's civil-military interactions in its strategy in the South China Sea dispute, the different kinds of political and strategic strategies used by Southeast Asian countries in countering China, the past patterns and present trajectories of economic ties between China and Southeast Asian countries, as well as the strategic implications of China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, strategically located between China and India, is one of the largest and most richly endowed states in Southeast Asia. Yet it remains both economically and politically underdeveloped. Why is this so? We argue that much of the reason has to do with an ongoing struggle for national identity. This struggle involves not only whether the state should be authoritarian or democratic, but how Burma's myriad ethnic minorities should be accommodated within it, what external reference national reference groups the country should identify and align with, and how it should move forward. Identity formation normally occurs much earlier in the national developmental process, but Burma has had unusually intransigent problems that were never successfully resolved during the colonial period and have simply been suppressed by force since then. This protracted divisiveness has stunted the nation's modernization and growth.Written from a unique perspective, this book on Myanmar deviates from the traditional authoritarian versus democratic rhetoric. Although that is certainly part of the picture, this multifaceted analysis focuses rather on the issue of identity formation — an issue that has all too often failed to make the headlines. Much can be learned from Myanmar's identity problems, making this book essential reading for all students and professionals interested in development studies or comparative politics. By whatever name, Burma is not only a fascinating country but one likely to play an increasingly vital role in Asia's future.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, strategically located between China and India, is one of the largest and most richly endowed states in Southeast Asia. Yet it remains both economically and politically underdeveloped. Why is this so? We argue that much of the reason has to do with an ongoing struggle for national identity. This struggle involves not only whether the state should be authoritarian or democratic, but how Burma's myriad ethnic minorities should be accommodated within it, what external reference national reference groups the country should identify and align with, and how it should move forward. Identity formation normally occurs much earlier in the national developmental process, but Burma has had unusually intransigent problems that were never successfully resolved during the colonial period and have simply been suppressed by force since then. This protracted divisiveness has stunted the nation's modernization and growth.Written from a unique perspective, this book on Myanmar deviates from the traditional authoritarian versus democratic rhetoric. Although that is certainly part of the picture, this multifaceted analysis focuses rather on the issue of identity formation — an issue that has all too often failed to make the headlines. Much can be learned from Myanmar's identity problems, making this book essential reading for all students and professionals interested in development studies or comparative politics. By whatever name, Burma is not only a fascinating country but one likely to play an increasingly vital role in Asia's future.