1st Edition

National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China

By Edward Friedman Copyright 1995
    440 Pages
    by Routledge

    440 Pages
    by Routledge

    This analysis of every facet of a national identity makes it less likely that the next great explosion in the Commmunist world - and its consequences - will come as a surprise. It investigates tendencies in China that might lead it down the same path as Russia and Yugoslavia.

    The author starts with the premise that the public comes to government not principally in one role but in all three roles, as citizens and customers and partners. The purpose of the book is to address the dual challenge implied by that reality: (1) to help public administrators and other public officials to understand the complex nature of the public they face, and (2) to provide recommendations for how public administrators can most effectively interact with the public in the different roles. Using this comprehensive perspective, the text helps students, practitioners, and scholars understand when and how the public should be integrated into the practice of public administration.Most of the chapters include multiple boxed cases that illustrate the content with real-world examples. Included is an extremely useful appendix that collects and summarizes the 40 Design Principles--specific advice for public organizations on working with the public as customers, partners, and citizens.

    Biography

    Edward Friedman teaches about China, democratization and transitions from socialist systems, in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His most recent book is The Politics of Democratization (1994). His co-authored work Chinese Village, Socialist State (1991) was chosen by the Association of Asian Studies in 1993 to receive the Joseph Levenson Prize as the best book on modern China.Dr. Friedman speaks and reads Chinese and has traveled widely in China. His work appears regularly in both major scholarly journals and also in magazines and newspapers of informed opinion. He received an M.A. in East Asian Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.