Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Since the late 1970s China has been undergoing a profound economic transformation ushered in by the wideranging program of market-oriented economic reform introduced under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. While most other studies of the reforms have dealt with their economic effect, Riding the Tiger is about the political dynamics of these reforms - their political origins and impact, and the nature of the political forces which have conditioned their character and effectiveness. It analyzes the politics of institutional reform in industry and agriculture, the impact of new market thinking and realities on China's traditional Marxist-Leninist ideology and its dominant political institution, the Chinese Communist Party. It also traces the impact of economic reform on Chinese social structure and institutions, showing how the spread of market relations has led to greater diversity in social attitudes, interests and institutions. These changes, Gordon White argues, are in turn giving rise to ineluctable pressures for reform in political institutions, thereby exploding the original assumption underlying the reforms that economic transformation could be achieved without fundamental political changes. The book concludes by assessing various options for China's political future, arguing that an abrupt transition to some form of multi-party democracy is less desirable than a more gradual, stable and managed 'dual transition' - first from a 'totalist' to an authoritarian political system, and then from an authoritarian to a democratic political system.

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CHOICE Review

White (Univ. of Sussex) traces changes in China since the late 1970s. This decidedly ambitious work, revealingly titled, focuses on the political aspects of China's post-Mao market reforms. The author presents a case study of Chinese experience within three areas of comparative experience: the development state, economic liberalization, and market socialism. He argues that a more gradual, stable, and managed "dual transition" is more desirable. The book contains an introduction and eight chapters. Chapter 1 claims that economic reforms were an attempt to reestablish the hegemonic authority of the Communist party on a different basis. Chapter 2 analyzes the political dynamics of the reform process. Chapters 3 and 4 look at the political processes involved in two major areas of policy reform, agriculture and industry. Chapters 5 through 7 examine the political impact of the reforms on the official ideology, the party, and the relationship between state and society. Chapter 8 concludes by examining the prospects for several possible scenarios. Students of China might not be satisfied with an analysis of only two areas of Deng's "second revolution." Tables; figures; notes; bibliography. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries.