The story of China's spectacular economic growth is well known. Less well known is the country's equally dramatic, though not always equally successful, social policy transition. Between the mid- 1990s and mid-2000s---the focal period for this book---China's central government went a long way toward consolidating the social policy framework that had gradually emerged in piecemeal fashion during the initial phases of economic liberalization. Major policy decisions during the focal period included adopting a single national pension plan for urban areas, standardizing unemployment insurance, (re)establishing nationwide rural health care coverage, opening urban education systems to children of rural migrants, introducing trilingual education policies in ethnic minority regions, expanding college enrolment, addressing the challenge of HIV/AIDS more comprehensively, and equalizing social welfare spending across provinces, among others. Unresolved is the direction of policy in the face of longer-term industrial and demographic trends---and the possibility of a chronically weak global economy. Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition offers scholars, practitioners, students, and policymakers a foundation from which to explore those issues based on a composite snapshot of Chinese social policy at its point of greatest maturation prior to the 2007 global crisis.

About the Author
Douglas J. Besharov is the Norman and Florence Brody Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, where he teaches courses on poverty, welfare, children and families, policy analysis, program evaluation, and performance management. He is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where he leads a program in international policy exchanges. In 2008, he was President of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and is currently APPAM's International Conference Coordinator. Karen Baehler is Scholar in Residence at the American University School of Public Affairs and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Australia New Zealand School of Government. Her research focuses on the theory and practice of policy analysis in social and environmental policy. She holds a Ph.D. in Policy Sciences from the University of Maryland.

Reviews
This book is one about the pioneering attempts to help China move forward along its transition path to improving social policy. It is successful in providingrich case studies, solid empirical evidence, and strong policy implications and recommendations.Thus it is suitable for researchers, practitioners and policy makers. * Zhiming Cheng, University of Wollongong, Australia, Political Studies Review *
The volume is a valuable and engaging contribution to our understanding of the social policy implications of China's transtion ... It would be of interest to both specialists and those with a general interest in China. * Danial R. Hammond, Journal of Social Policy *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199990313
Author Douglas Besharov
Format Hardback
Page Count 314
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 590g
Dimensions(mm) 165mm * 236mm * 31mm