China's Changing Political Landscape: Prospects for Democracy, edited by Cheng Li. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2008. xvi + 342 pp. US$29.95/£17.99 (paperback).
In this edited book, fifteen top China scholars offer compelling, empirically rich and illuminating snapshots of trends in the development of China's political system. Moving beyond the "trapped transition" paradigm, they assess whether democracy will emerge from incremental political change in China.
Several scholars survey the terrain of ideology and political culture, delineating the ideational boundaries of political reform in China. Andrew Nathan's analysis of political and academic discourse …