The Applicability of Policy-Making Theories in Post-Mao China (review)

The division between international-relations theorists and area specialists has had a detrimental impact on the analytical study of Chinese foreign economic policy. Broadly speaking, theorists derive decision-making theories from the experiences of advanced industrialized economies. A more radical approach is adopted by the proponents of rational choice, who totally disregard political, economic, and cultural differences by assuming that all decision makers are motivated by the same self-interested behavior. On the other hand, area specialists often adopt a case-study approach, and many of their studies are purely descriptive accounts devoid of any explanatory arguments. And of course there are the "how-to" authors, who write nontheoretical studies to satisfy a business community that is eager to learn about the burgeoning China market. As a result, the literature on Chinese foreign economic decision making is underdeveloped, especially when contrasted with the literature on Japan and the United States.

Huang Jianrong hopes to bridge the gap between area studies and theoretical approaches. To understand the past two decades of Chinese foreign economic policy, Huang applies various Western theories of decision making to analyze the formulation of China's special economic zone (SEZ) policies. The study is divided into three major sections: the first is a review of decision-making literature (chapters 2 through 4), the second section is devoted to analyzing SEZ policy formation (chapters 5 through 8), and the third section applies various decision-making theories to explain the SEZ decision-making process (chapters 9 through 11). Huang's goal is laudable, and some of his analysis is enlightening. Unfortunately, theoreticians will have problems with the study's ponderous research design. Area specialists will criticize the SEZ case studies. And everybody will criticize Ashgate, which should be ashamed to charge such a high price for a study riddled with mangled English syntax and glaring romanization mistakes.

In discussing the decision-making literature, Huang reviews various decision-making theories in chapter 2, including pluralist, elitist, Marxist, globalization, and institutionalist theories. After outlining Chinese decision-making structures, he evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each theoretical approach in analyzing Chinese policy making. In chapter 3, he organizes sinological decision-making approaches into three general paradigms. The pluralist-based paradigm includes a "politicians-in-negotiation" model (MacFarquhar), a "power-conflicts-oriented" model (Pye; Chang; Nathan), a "bureaucracy in dominance" model (Oksenberg; Whitson; Teiwes), and an "interest group" model (Moody; Liu; Oksenberg). The elitist paradigm includes "Mao-in-command" or "Deng-in-command" models (Teiwes; D. Chang). Finally, the institutionalist paradigm includes the "ideological-conflict-oriented" models (Oksenberg and Goldstein; P. Chang; Harding; Solinger), bureaucratic structures (Lieberthal and Oksenberg; Lampton; and others), and "policy-making pattern" models (Lewis; Schurmann; Barnett; Harding). While the characterization of particular sinological approaches could be disputed, it is refreshing to read Huang's discussion of their theoretical origins. Chapter 4 discusses six prescriptive theories on how decisions should be made, and proposes that four approaches (rationalism, incrementalism, contingent approach, and optimal method) will be used to analyze the SEZ case.

The book's second section is devoted to describing the SEZ policy process, beginning with a short introduction to the SEZ concept in chapter 5. Chapter 6 briefly describes the SEZ authorization process, highlighting the role of the China Merchant's Steam and Navigation Company (CMSN) in the establishment of the Shekou Industrial Zone. Chapter 7 is a lengthy and more detailed discussion of the Hainan SEZ policy process, starting with State Council document 80.202 and Central Committee document 83.11 and ending with the formal establishment of the Hainan SEZ, which would also be designated a separate province in 1988. Huang focuses on the political problems involved in developing Hainan's Yangpu Economic Development Zone and on the highly publicized dispute involving the Hong Kong affiliate of Kumagai Gumi, a major Japanese building concern, which won a contract to develop thirty-two square kilometers of Yangpu. Because the project was criticized for allowing...