Urban Development and a Socialist Pro-Growth Coalition in Shanghai

Abstract

The author analyzes pro-growth coalitions in Shanghai, China, a socialist society, and identifies two dimensions in coalition building: the political dimension and the economic dimension. Concepts of regime theory work well with the economic dimension but differ from the political dimension of urban governance of the city. So regime theory, which is developed based on experiences in the United States, may partly be applied in the socialist context. The study reveals features of the socialist pro-growth coalition in Shanghai in the transitional era: a regimecharacter ized by a strong local government followed by cooperative nonpublic sectors with excluded community organizations.