Jeremy Wallace, Cities and Stability: Urbanization,Redistribution, and Regime Survival in China

摘要

The management of urbanization in China, especially how it has thus far avoided the political instability that urbanization has often caused in other nations, is both an important and timely subject. Jeremy Wallace's book addresses this topic within the context of several intertwined themes related to urban population concentration and political stability. Wallace poses some intriguing questions, such as: How does an authoritarian regime shape a nation's urbanization while delicately engaging in an urban bias that favors cities in order to maintain its rule? Why and how do cities pose a challenge to regime stability? How can a regime's urban bias backfire by exacerbating the growth of slums and cities? And, finally, how has China avoided all of this and the concomitant issues of slums that seem to dominate the large cities of other developing nations?