1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910459667803321

Autore

Santoro Michael A

Titolo

China 2020 [[electronic resource] ] : how western business can--and should--influence social and political change in the coming decade / / Michael A. Santoro

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, : Cornell University Press, 2009

ISBN

0-8014-5923-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (178 p.)

Disciplina

322/.30951

Soggetti

International business enterprises - China

Investments, Foreign - China

Social responsibility of business - China

Business ethics - China

Social change - China - 21st century

Human rights - China

Electronic books.

China Foreign economic relations

China Commercial policy

China Social conditions 2000-

China Politics and government 21st century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Beyond the Shadow of Tiananmen -- 2. The Clipboard, the Megaphone, and Socialist Characteristics -- 3. Drug Safety Races to the Bottom -- 4. China 2.0 -- 5. Soft Seat on the Long March -- 6. Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Chinese society is plagued by many problems that have a direct impact on its current and future business and political environment-worker rights, product safety, Internet freedom, and the rule of law. Drawing on knowledge gained through personal interviews, documentary sources, and almost two decades of visits to China, Michael A. Santoro offers a clear-eyed view of the various internal forces-such as



regionalism, corruption, and growing inequality-that will determine the direction and pace of economic, social, and political change. Of special interest is Santoro's assessment of the role of multinational corporations in fostering or undermining social and political progress. Santoro offers a fresh and innovative way of thinking about two questions that have preoccupied Western observers for decades. What will be the effect of economic reform and prosperity on political reform? How can companies operate with moral integrity and ethics in China? In China 2020, Santoro unifies these hitherto separate questions and demonstrates that moral integrity (or lack of it) by Western business will have a profound impact on whether economic privatization and growth usher in greater democracy and respect for human rights. Offering a novel vision of China's future economic and political development, Santoro rejects the conventional view that China will muddle through the next decade with incremental social and political changes. Instead he argues that China will follow one or two widely divergent potential outcomes. It might continue to progress steadily toward greater prosperity, democracy, and respect for human rights, but it is also highly likely that China will instead fall backward economically and into an ever more authoritarian regime. The next decade will be one of the most important in the history of China, and, owing to China's global impact, the history of the modern world. China 2020 describes various tectonic social and political battles going on within China. The outcomes of these struggles will depend on a number of powerful indigenous forces as well as the decisions and actions of individual Chinese citizens. Santoro strongly believes that Western businesses can-and should-influence these developments.