THESIS
2018
viii, 72 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Since the late 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party has emphasized the critical
importance of maintaining social stability (weiwen), and devoted considerable
administrative and financial resources towards that goal. The construction of an
extensive network of video surveillance units represents one of the most tangible
strategies for enhancing the party-state’s capacity to monitor its citizens. Meanwhile,
China has also emerged as a global leader in the security products industry. It is
puzzling, however, that private firms dominate China’s surveillance industry rather than
state-owned enterprises given that the latter monopolize other strategic industries.
Based on in-depth fieldwork, this thesis traces how central and local governments have
regulated the privatization of the se...[
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Since the late 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party has emphasized the critical
importance of maintaining social stability (weiwen), and devoted considerable
administrative and financial resources towards that goal. The construction of an
extensive network of video surveillance units represents one of the most tangible
strategies for enhancing the party-state’s capacity to monitor its citizens. Meanwhile,
China has also emerged as a global leader in the security products industry. It is
puzzling, however, that private firms dominate China’s surveillance industry rather than
state-owned enterprises given that the latter monopolize other strategic industries.
Based on in-depth fieldwork, this thesis traces how central and local governments have
regulated the privatization of the security and surveillance sector, and how China
managed to develop globally competitive firms within a condensed period of time. The
thesis argues that during 1990s to 2000s, the state’s pursuit of societal legibility forced
rulers to accept and allow large-scale privatization of the security and surveillance
industry due to budgetary pressures and technological inadequacy. To ensure
technological progress in the private sector without loss of political loyalty to the state,
since the 2000s, the government has adopted different strategies at different stages of
the industrial chain—namely, deregulation during the products production phase and
control during the products integration phase. This mode of market governance has
yielded an equilibrium of social stability and market competition in the security
industry.
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