1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827989903321

Autore

Dutton Michael Robert

Titolo

Policing Chinese Politics [[electronic resource] ] : A History

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Durham, : Duke University Press, 2005

ISBN

0-8223-9762-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (427 p.)

Collana

Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society

Altri autori (Persone)

ChowRey

HarootunianH.D

Disciplina

363.2/3

Soggetti

China -- Politics and government -- 20th century

Internal security -- China -- History -- 20th century

Interpersonal relations -- China -- History -- 20th century

Political persecution -- China -- History -- 20th century

Internal security - History - 20th century - China

Political persecution - History - 20th century - China

Interpersonal relations - History - 20th century - China

Social Welfare & Social Work

Social Sciences

Criminology, Penology & Juvenile Delinquency

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents ""; ""Preface""; ""Introduction: A Theoretical Explanation""; ""1. Friends and Enemies: The War Within""; ""2. From Class to Nation: Limiting the Excess in Yan�an""; ""3. The Government of Struggle: Institutions of the Binary""; ""4. The Years That Burned""; ""5. The End of the (Mass) Line? : Chinese Policing in the Era of the Contract""; ""Concluding Reflections""; ""Glossary""; ""Notes""; ""References""; ""Index""

Sommario/riassunto

Beginning with the bloody communist purges of the Jiangxi era of the late 1920s and early 1930s and moving forward to the wild excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Policing Chinese Politics explores the question of revolutionary violence and the political passion that propels it. “Who are our enemies, who are our friends, that is a question germane to the revolution,” wrote Mao Zedong in 1926. Michael Dutton shows just how



powerful this one line was to become. It would establish the binary division of life in revolutionary China and lead to both passionate commitment and revolutionary excess. The political history of revolutionary China, he argues, is largely framed by the attempts of Mao and the Party to harness these passions.The economic reform period that followed Mao Zedong’s rule contained a hint as to how the magic spell of political faith and commitment could be broken, but the cost of such disenchantment was considerable. This detailed, empirical tale of Chinese socialist policing is, therefore, more than simply a police story. It is a parable that offers a cogent analysis of Chinese politics generally while radically redrafting our understanding of what politics is all about. Breaking away from the traditional elite modes of political analysis that focus on personalities, factions, and betrayals, and from “rational” accounts of politics and government, Dutton provides a highly original understanding of the far-reaching consequences of acts of faith and commitment in the realm of politics.