The China model and its efficacy in a comparative context

This article takes economic modernization and political democratization as the end goals of national modernization, and it regards the configuration of political and economic institutions as the institutional framework for achieving those goals. The first section puts forward a brief analysis of the characteristics of the three main models, namely, the Western model, the socialist model and the authoritarian developmentalism, in order to lay a useful analytical foundation for subsequent discussion of the China model. The second section defines the China model as a kind of authoritarian developmentalism. It proceeds to analyze its characteristics or effectiveness by comparing with other authoritarian developmentalism. The third section looks at the challenges and prospects of the China model from the developmental perspective.