‘Carrot and stick’ approach to housing demolition and relocation under flexible authoritarianism in urban China

Abstract In the context of reconfigured state-society relation, Chinese states’ modes crisis management have profoundly transformed, featuring state’s greater efforts in reconciling conflicts among state machinery capital accumulation, political stability maintenance and increasingly diversified societal needs. However, how local performs specific missions accordingly handling day-to-day on ground remains under-examined. Accounting for mundane yet nontrivial conflict resolving strategies ‘carrot stick’ approach, this article aims to fill gap by examining underlying logic, operational mechanism, socioeconomic implications flexible authoritarianism at level, based an empirical investigation handles nail households housing demolition relocation Dalian, China. We define approach as a manifestation ground, which employs variety formal informal well administrative market instruments handle households-induced that are constitutive renewed relation. This study reveals under has been rationalized efficient way maintain social whilst sustaining momentum economic growth, thus widely employed research deepens our theoretical understanding dynamic relation authoritarianism, offers detailed interpretation why such hybrid is rendered inevitable current politico-economic environment, power structure, legal institutional configuration urban