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Civil-Military Relations in Today's China: Swimming in a New Sea
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Comments/Reviews
Description: This work provides an in-depth and up-to-date examination of civil-military relations in China. It reflects the significant changes taking place in Chinese society and their impact on the civil-military dynamic, with particular attention to how the military will fit in with the new class of entrepreneurs.
Rather than focusing exclusively on elite Party-Army relations, the book examines civil-military relations from various vantage points: at "the center" and in the provinces; between civilian leaders and military leaders; from a strictly military perspective and from a civilian perspective; and from the angle of specific issue areas. Chapters explore issues such as the impact of AIDS, the defense budget, the emerging dynamic between the military and China's new leadership, resettling demobilized troops back into civilian life, and the role of the militia, reserve units, and other civilian groups.
The contributors are highly respected specialists in China studies, including political scientists, historians, PLA specialists, and sociologists. They present a vibrant portrait of the new civil-military dynamic in the PRC within the complex social changes that China is exploring today.
Selected Contents:
List of Tables and Figures
Introduction by David Finkelstein
1. Social Trends in China: Implications for the People's Liberation Army, Tony Saich
2. The Impact of Social Changes on the PLA: A Chinese Military Perspective, Xiaobing Li
3. The New Military Elite: Generational Profile and Contradictory Trends, Cheng Li
4. The Fourth-Generation Leaders and the New Military Elite, Yu Bin
5. The PLA and the Provinces: Military District and Local Issues, Zhiyue Bo
6. The Political Implications of PLA Professionalism, Lyman Miller
7. Unravelling the Myths About Political Commissars, You Ji
8. Searching for a Twenty-First Century Officer Corps, Thomas J. Bickford
9. Educating the Officer Corps: The Chinese People's Liberation Army and Its Interactions with Civilian Academic Institutions, Kristen A. Gunness
10. China's Defense Budget: Is There Impending Friction Between Defense and Civilian Needs? Joseph Fewsmith
11. The PLA in the New Economy: Plus Ca Change, Plus C'est la Meme Chose, James Mulvenon
12. The Challenge of Conscription in an Era of Social Change, Sijin Cheng
13. Demobilization and Resettlement: The Challenge of Downsizing the People's Liberation Army, Maryanne Kivlehan-Wise
14. People's War in the Twenty-First Century: The Militia and the Reserves, Dennis J. Blasko
The Editors and Contributors
Index
Comment(s): "How well we deal with a rising China depends on our understanding of the history and current realities of civil military relations of China. Does the party control the gun? What is the impact of the scientific technological revolution on Chinese comprehensive national power? This book is a masterpiece of careful research and clear headed analysis which provides answers and which dispenses with biased, shallow, and noisy generalities which infect much of current writing in China. David Finkelstein and his talented colleagues have demonstrated again that they are the best thinkers to tackle the immense and complex problems of a modern China on a roll." -- James Lilley, American Enterprise Institute
"All too often analysis of civil-military relations in China focuses on the elite level and interactions of senior party and military leaders. This pioneering volume reaches much further and deeper to consider a wide range of social, economic, demographic, and institutional factors that comprise the broader environment of PLA modernization. It also updates more traditional issues concerning the new military elite, composition of the officer corps, and the role of political commissars. Taken together, the chapters in this volume illuminate a kind of 'life cycle' of PLA soldiers and officers -- from conscription, through initial and mid-career training, and into demobilization and retirement. Altogether, a most useful contribution to our understanding of the deeper factors shaping Chinese military modernization today." -- David Shambaugh, George Washington University; author, Modernizing China's Military: Progress, Problems, and Prospects
Review(s): Anyone interested in contemporary China would find something of value in this study. ... This book delivers even more than it promises. Highly recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates through practitioners. Choice
The book covers a wide range of issues, some of which were previously not well understood. ... the chapters are also well researched and based on original sources. ... The volume is commendable for opening up many issues for further research. The China Journal
The excellent analyses in the numerous chapters of this data-rich volume offer shrewd views of the relation of military reform in China changes in Chinese Society. Journal of Chinese Political Science
    
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