This paper analyses institutional reforms and political participation, most notably indirect and direct elections of residential committees (RC), in China's urban neighbourhoods and communities (shequ). It shows that these elections at present are not meaningful to the majority of city dwellers...

The following contribution is concerned with the entrepreneurship among on of the major ethnic minorities. It goes into the effects of Yi entrepreneurship on the social structures of Yi society, particularly the clans and their changing role and function. We adress central components of social...

On a global scale, there has been a significant increase of ethnic conflicts in the last decade. They constitute one of the main sources of domestic political instability in multi-national countries. Recent opinion polls among Chinese citizens point to growing ethnic conflicts even in China....

The paper examines recent political and social developments in the People's Republic of China. It highlights some of the principle features in current Chinese politics: fragmentation of both the system and its actors; the role of the Chinese state as a developmental state; the issue of whether...

Das vorliegende Heft untersucht verschiedene aktuelle Entwicklungs- und Spannungsfelder im gegenwärtigen China, die von Studierenden im Rahmen eines Task-Force-Seminars erarbeitet wurden: Umwelt-NGOs, Konflikte und Konfliktmanagement am Fallbeispiel Wasser, Neuerungen und...

This report approaches current domains of development and tension within China. It was elaborated by students in the frame of a "Task Force Seminar" in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). It addresses the issues of...