Illiberal Law and Development: Property Rights and Conflict Over Land in China
Author(s): Susan H. Whiting (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: 9 April 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 255 pages
- ISBN-10: 1316512096
- ISBN-13: 9781316512098
Book Description
In Illiberal Law and Development, Susan H. Whiting advances institutional economic theory with original survey and fieldwork data, addressing two puzzles in Chinese political economy: how economic development has occurred despite insecure property rights and weak rule of law; and how the Chinese state has maintained political control amid unrest. Whiting answers these questions by focusing on the role of illiberal law in reassigning property rights and redirecting grievances. The book reveals that, in the context of technological change, a legal system that facilitates reassignment of land rights to higher-value uses plays an important and under-theorized role in promoting economic development. This system simultaneously represses conflict and asserts legitimacy. Comparing China to post-Glorious Revolution England and contemporary India, Whiting presents an exciting new argument that brings the Chinese case more directly into debates in comparative politics about the role of the state in specifying property rights and maintaining authoritarian rule.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘Susan Whiting’s magisterial investigation of property rights in China reveals the distinctive way in which the Chinese authoritarian state used law to manage economic and political development while, simultaneously, promoting its legitimacy and durability. Illiberal Law and Development builds on and advances institutional economic accounts of the rule of law and of development. Its nuanced and well-grounded explanations of the puzzles of Chinese growth make this book a landmark study of China and the evolution of its state.’ Margaret Levi, Professor Emerita of Political Science, Stanford University
‘Through rich and incisive analysis of land rights and legal reform, Susan Whiting reveals how legal institutions are mobilized to advance state-led development and maintain authoritarian rule. A landmark study of China’s evolving political-legal regime, Illiberal Law and Development offers critical insights into the relationship between law, power and development in China and puts the Chinese experience into comparative perspective. A major contribution to the fields of law and development, Chinese politics and comparative authoritarianism, Illiberal Law and Development is essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners seeking to understand the evolving dynamics of governance in China and beyond.’ Dali L. Yang, William C. Reavis Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and the author of Wunan: How the Covid-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled Out of Control.
‘Susan Whiting’s Illiberal Law and Development: Property Rights and Conflict over Land in China offers us a new and fresh perspective on the important role of the state in China in the reorganization of property rights in land since the late 1970s. With the parallels it draws to land enclosures in Great Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this book will be of great value to students of China, and those interested in comparative legal and economic development.’ Loren Brandt, University of Toronto
Book Description
Explains how China achieved transformative economic development without secure property rights and regime durability despite conflict.
About the Author
Susan H. Whiting is Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. Having studied and conducted extensive field and survey research in China since 1985, she is the author of Power and Wealth in Rural China (2001, Chinese translation 2009) plus articles and chapters, co-authored with political scientists, economists, legal scholars, anthropologists, and historians to advance institutional economic theory and explain development.
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