China's Warriors Are Handicapped

[ 137 ] book review roundtable • china’s water warriors International linkages have thus contributed to bringing about different policy outcomes in these anti-dam campaigns. Finally, yet another major contribution of international NGOs is their introduction of international norms, such as human rights and social justice, into China. The Chinese government realizes that if it takes action against domestic NGOs that implicitly or explicitly support anti-dam campaigns, Beijing will be criticized for violating international norms, thereby damaging China’s international image. Consequently, China has refrained from carrying out a violent crackdown on environmental movements. In sum, there has been a compromise between NGOs and the state— whereby both sides stress cooperation and dialogue rather than provocative or violent confrontation—that has resulted in a new phenomenon: social movements “with Chinese characteristics.” Understanding this unique form of social movement in China should help reader’s better understand the antidam campaigns and the patterns of interaction between the state and the society in Mertha’s comparative study of the Pubugou, Dujiangyan, and the Nu River cases. China’s Warriors Are Handicapped Yawei Liu Andrew C. Mertha’s China’s Water Warriors: Citizen Action and Policy Change is certainly a compelling sell, given the back cover’s display of endorsements by several leading China experts. Challenging the seminal thesis of “fragmented authoritarianism” is also very intriguing. Moreover, the volume is a timely and important investigation into public activism in the area of policymaking in a non-democratic society. Mertha examines three exciting stories on the process of building (or not building) dams and uses the high drama staged by strong-willed government officials, profit-seeking power xitong,1 and courageous water warriors to show that the OksenbergLieberthal thesis is a bit dated. Perhaps even more fascinating are the 1 Power xitong includes (1) state owned companies that are responsible for producing and transmitting power, (2) government officials, particularly those at the top, who used to work in the state power management administration, and (3) children of those officials who are working in power regulation agencies or utility holding companies. yawei liu is Director of the China Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He can be reached at . [ 138 ] asia policy conclusions of the book, which may force China watchers to reassess China’s political transformation in the context of economic development and societal adjustment. Mertha’s overall claim is that China is moving toward a more liberal state-society relationship and that any decisions made either by the central government or by local governments are subject to challenges from other sectors or interest groups. Mertha’s original application of concepts and ideas from the field of U.S. politics—such as policy entrepreneurs and issue framing—is very useful because they provide a neat lens for analyzing why more violent demonstrations failed to change a government decision to build a dam in Hanyuan whereas relatively moderate protests succeeded in reversing the decision in Dujiangyan and delaying the decision concerning the Nu River.2 Mertha’s book should be complimented for two major achievements: first, it contributes to a better and more precise interpretation of China’s often secretive and opaque decisionmaking process; second, it reaffirms the view that, although still authoritarian in name and nature, public space in China has widened almost beyond recognition. No major decisions can be made and implemented without question from the people, the supposed benefactors of government decisions. Indeed, the most memorable part of the book addresses the fact that unprecedented citizen questioning of government decisions has led to different policy outcomes, such as reversing decisions and delaying the implementation of decisions, or at the very least to more explanation of the rationale behind decisions. Although the book does indicate how easily and frequently those who are organizing or orchestrating such questioning can be punished by the government, Mertha very convincingly proves that any claim that the Chinese government still implements policies without criticism and debate is misguided. Mertha artfully places the three small stories into the larger context of China’s present challenges. The first challenge is that the market economy has effectively fragmented both the Chinese government and Chinese society. Second, the market-dependent...