"This volume explores the questions that have for a long time occupied a central position in academic discussions of Chinese politics, covering topics such as state-enterprise relationship (a fundamental indicator of the political economy of Chinese reform); central-local relations (an issue that has perplexed the power arrangements in China for over a thousand years in general and since 1949 in particular); relations between popular participation and political reform; and the relationship between individual liberty and political democracy (a classic question in political theory that frames political debates in contemporary China). In their totality, these collected essays give the reader a look behind the closed doors of Chinese politics and government."--BOOK JACKET.