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The “State of the State” in Reform-Era China

Abstract:Since the early 1990s, studies on the transformation of the post-Mao state have increasingly approached the issue from local perspectives and attacked national-level state studies. A counterbalance to this trend, this article draws on the broader social sciences literature about the state and contends that national-level state studies will remain a valuable part of the China field, despite acknowledging local state studies’ critique of national-level studies for their failure to disaggregate the “state” concept. This article proposes an analytical template that regards the Chinese Communist Party’s state transformation efforts as proceeding along the two dimensions of “structure” and “modes of governance,” each of which are explored from several aspects. The article is intended to provide a broad-brush portrayal of state transformation in reform-era China, including the achievements, limitations, and implications of this transformation. It also assesses the current state of China studies.