China’s Contained Resource Curse

How Minerals Shape State-Capital-Labor Relations

New Book Symposium

Date: 26 April 2022 (Tue)

Time: 3-5pm

Format: Zoom Webinar

Registration:  https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13648184

Book Information:

This is the first monograph on the socioeconomic and political impacts of minerals on contemporary China. This book takes a novel perspective on the resource curse by disaggregating the society into three key actors, the state, capital, and labor.

It tells nuanced stories about the distinctive effects of mineral resources on the state-capital-labor triad in China, a resource-rich country that has been largely overlooked in the resource curse discourse.

Taking a subnational approach, this research zooms in on local situations and identifies clear causal channels through which mineral resources affect local development and governance as well as the welfare of local citizens. Characterizing mining industries as pro-capital and anti-labor, this research also highlights the redistributive roles that the state can play to address the unfair game.

It reveals the Chinese state’s strategies to contain the resource curse and also pinpoints some pitfalls of the China model, which offer important policy implications for China and other resource-rich countries.

Author Information:

Prof. Zhan specializes in comparative political economy, contemporary Chinese politics, intergovernmental relations, local governance, and development studies. Her pioneering research on China’s resource sector and resource policies has been published in journals such as the China Quarterly, Environmental and Resource Economics, and the Extractive Industries and Society and received the CUHK Research Excellence Award. Prof. Zhan is also the Programme Diector of MSSc in Government and Politics (Greater China), CUHK.

Details: www.cambridge.org/9781316511268