The Brokers of China's Development With Kyle Jaros

Young China Watchers

For this month’s episode, Sam sat down with Kyle Jaros, Associate Professor in the Political Economy of China at the University of Oxford.

They discussed Kyle’s new book, “China’s Urban Champions: The Politics of Spatial Development”, which took four provincial case studies in Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Hunan, Jiangxi and analyzed the relationships between local leaders, provincial leaders, and Beijing, as well as the roles occupied by other regional stakeholders. Kyle talked about his research methods, decisions, and challenges, highlighting his goal to cover issues unique to each province as well as identity their points of overlap.

Xi Jinping, Kyle points out, made analysis of China’s central power in Beijing the focal point for research and commentary into Chinese policy-making. While in the 1990s, researchers were more interested in addressing questions about China ability to achieve national coherence, now that China has established itself as a united state and global powerhouse, researchers tend to be more interested in analyzing Beijing’s top-down domestic policies as well as its foreign policy. But he believes provincial-based studies are in fact more relevant than ever. “Even in this re-centralized context, the role of provinces remains really important, not in spite of the fact there is re-centralization, but in many ways because of it.” The BRI is an example of this, as in some cases national government officials rely on provincial leaders to draft and carry out specific policies for the project.

His advice to field researchers in China: (1) Remain mindful of your own safety and the safety of your sources and interlocutors and (2) Relationships are more important than anything else, especially for foreigners.

Kyle Jaros’ book will be published on July 23, 2019 and is available for pre-order on the Princeton University Press website.

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Kyle's reading recommendations are:

Ian Johnson. 2017. "The God of Development." The New York Times. July 24.

Carolyn Cartier. 2016, 'A Political Economy of Rank: the territorial administrative hierarchy and leadership mobility in urban China',Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 25, no. 100, pp. 529-546.

Jeremy Wallace. 2014. Cities and Stability: Urbanization, Redistribution, and Regime Stability in China. Oxford University Press.

You-tien Hsing. 2010. China's Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China. Oxford University Press.

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Kyle Jaros (kylejaros.com) is an Associate Professor in the Political Economy of China at the University of Oxford. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. Kyle’s research focuses on the politics of urban and regional development and evolving central-local relations in China.

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