This book provides a critical commentary on China's situation and future outlook from the
perspective of the 2012-13 generational power transfer. In this power transfer taking place
against the background of an increasingly unstable domestic situation an apparently
outstandingly successful generation of half-communist leaders recently increasingly plagued by
scandal transferred responsibility to a generation confronted by mixed expectations and
factional in-fighting. Many international observers doubt that the new leadership will have the
will or the power to introduce serious reforms in a country that reports 100 000 riots
involving more than 500 persons in public areas per year. The China of 2013 seems to be in the
midst of a transition seldom seen since the 1970s. The question is if the resulting hope
expressed by Chinese dissidents and Western leaders for a necessary development of China's
still largely autocratic system towards a kind of context-adequate democracy is plausible or
not. Featuring incisive commentary by the authors and interviews with experts on the region's
political economy the volume addresses such timely questions as: Should rapid democratization
of China be the strategic goal of the West or rather a step-by-step approach towards the rule
of law first and illiberal democracy to follow? Should the West be more worried about a
thriving China or a China in crisis? Will China's success contribute to the success of the
global community and the world order system or be a threat to it? What can the West do to help
China develop more participatory and inclusive approaches in order to secure social stability?
And how can the West strengthen its democratic allies on China's borders? Endorsements This is
a book I recommend to students and teachers around the globe. It provides a concise
introduction into present China's main problems questions and perspectives. A must for all who
try to understand the rising Pacific giant not through short-term answers but through
long-term questions. Professor Ole Bruun Institute for Society and Globalization Roskilde
University Denmark The rise of China to global superpower calls for clear condensed yet
comprehensive comments for the broader public. This book accomplishes those goals providing a
quick yet comprehensive introduction into what we may expect as the Middle Kingdom seeks to
assert what it increasingly sees as its rightful role as a leading world power. Professor
Richard Appelbaum MacArthur Foundation Chair in Global & International Studies and Sociology
University of California at Santa Barbara The new constellation between China and the West
needs inspiring departure points of discussion which may be sober or provocative. This booklet
is both in one. It should be used as a basis for in-depth discussion and I recommend it for
classrooms and the global civil society debate. Professor Jan Nederveen Pieterse Mellichamp
Professor of Global Studies and Sociology University of California at Santa Barbara
