Sebastian Heilmann: Red Swan. How Unorthodox Policy-Making Facilitated China’s RiseAnastasiya Bayok

ASIEN – Nr. 149 (2018) pp. 145–46

Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2018, 267 pp., 52 USD

Sebastian Heilmann’s “Red Swan” is a rarity in the contemporary analysis of China’s governance and policy making processes. Heilmann goes beyond traditional Western analysis of political systems and regime typologies and claims that conventional models of comparative politics and institutional analysis have failed to adequately explain China’s political reality and undermine the role of political leadership and policy initiatives in China. In “Red Swan”, Heilmann draws from policy studies and methodologically disaggregates the Chinese political system into political subsystems. By means of a process- and actionbased analysis of the dynamics of state activity, the author unveils how policy processes in China unfold and result in an adaptable, willing-to-learn, able-to-innovate political system…