Paradigms of Chinese Politics: kicking society back out

More than three decades of research since reforms were launched has significantly expanded our understanding of China's changing political landscape. In that period, new paradigmatic assumptions have been brought to bear on the study of China to challenge the traditional state-centered approach. Among these have been state–society, society-centered, historical, and globalized models. While such works have enriched our understanding of this dynamic polity, a close reading of them shows that the state-centered paradigm remains the most appropriate one for the study of China's politics. Brief consideration is given to the reasons for this and to how it might change.