Article
Dr. Albert Keidel
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REQUIRED IMAGE
In The Media
The Economic Basis for Social Unrest in China
Published on May 26, 2005
Source: Paper presented at the Third European-American Dialogue on China
Much of our recent attention has focused on anti-Japan riots in China, yet a competing story in recent years is the extraordinary scale of social unrest linked not to patriotism and foreign policy but to economic tensions and perceived economic loss. Some analysts even allow that the anti-Japanese riots themselves were permitted to continue so that China's citizenry could "blow off some steam" over the government's poor economic performance. In this essay, Albert Keidel develops an analytical framework for considering the economic roots of protests in China. He argues that the disturbances derive most of their basic energy directly from dissatisfaction over the impact of economic reforms and market-based modernization. In addition, widespread enterprise and government corruption and malfeasance supplement and greatly amplify this basic dissatisfaction.
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About the Author
Dr. Albert Keidel
Former Senior Associate, China Program
Keidel served as acting director and deputy director for the Office of East Asian Nations at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Before joining Treasury in 2001, he covered economic trends, system reforms, poverty, and country risk as a senior economist in the World Bank office in Beijing.
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Dr. Albert Keidel
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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