Sum, Ngai-Ling - Struggle Against Wal-Martisation and Neoliberal Competitiveness in China

8/8/2019 Sum, Ngai-Ling - Struggle Against Wal-Martisation and Neoliberal Competitiveness in China

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Str ggle again t Wal-Marti ation

and neoliberal competitivenein ( o thern) China Towardpo tneoliberali m a an alternative?Ngai-Ling Sum

The ri e o neoliberali m ha prompted adaptation , re i tance and aearch or alternative . Thi article concentrate on the ca e o ( o th-

ern) China, e pecially the clo e relation between local tate and glo-bal capital and it implication or a ociali t and/or po tneoliberal -t re. The fr t ection brie y ketche the ri e o glocal (global-local)competitivene di co r e and practice related to neoliberali m andit j tifcation in term o the metaphor o cl ter . The econd ec-tion oc e on Hong Kong/Pearl River Delta and ill trate howthi body o competitivene knowledge i being recontext ali ed interm o the di co r e and practice o cl ter-b ilding, oreigndirect inve tment, and global o rcing rom China a a global ac-tory. Together the e di co r e and practice contrib te toward thedi ciplining o time and pace o the region a an economic power-ho e. Global giant pply/retail chain ch a Wal-Mart o rce romthe region, thereby a i ting their practice o elling at Alway LowPrice aro nd the world. The third ection explore how the trendtoward Wal-Marti ation ha prompted diver e anti-neoliberal chal-lenge rom tran national and tran -local anti-globali ation gro p .They critici e thi kind o price-val e competitivene e pecially in

term o it impact pon land e, labo r problem , gender ineq ali-tie and local comm nitie . Thi article di c e the ca e o a HongKong-ba ed NGO called St dent and Academic Again t CorporateMi behavio r (SACOM) and it e ort to challenge labo r i e inthe region. Thi kind o bottom- p approach i complicated by a top-down approach rom the Chine e central government to per adeWal-Mart to orm nion , e pecially in ace o a all in nion mem-ber hip and general ocial nre t. The o rth ection di c e the o-cial nre t and a related policy t rn toward a ocial agenda nder theH /Wen leader hip. Thi partly coincided with the 2008 neoliberalfnancial cri i that render the di c ion on the t re o ocial-i m more relevant, i not more rgent, among t new le t intellect -al . The e di c ion in China al o re onate el ewhere. For example,in certain circle o the tran national le t, Chavez project in Latin


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158 development dialogue january 2009 | postneoliberalism a beginning debate

America i narrated a 21 t cent ry ociali m (or po tneoliberali m).Doe the development o Chavez project in Venez ela and o imilar

one in Bolivia and Ec ador hed light on the earch or a potentiallyco nter-hegemonic alternative to neoliberali m? Drawing on Je opand Gram ci, thi ection end with two ca tionary note .

The rise of glocal neoliberal competitivenessOne prominent di co r e related to the ri e o neoliberali m con-cern the glocal c lt re o competitivene . In the main, thi bodyo knowledge i con tr cted and coordinated by academic g r /en-treprene r , con ltancy frm , policy thinktank , and international/regional organi ation ( or example, Harvard B ine School, Moni-tor Gro p, the Competitivene In tit te, World Economic For m,the United Nation Ind trial Development Organization UNIDO

and A ian Development Bank). An exemplary ca e i Michael Por-ter, a Harvard B ine School pro e or and con ltant with a back-gro nd in competitivene analy i o frm , ind trie , nation andregion (1980, 1985 and 1990). Hi work won early attention in thepolicy feld; he wa , or example, a member o Reagan fr t Com-mi ion on Ind tria l Competitivene . He con tr cted the diamond

model ba ed on o r actor : demand condition , actor condition ,frm trategy, tr ct re and rivalry, and related and pporting ind -trie , who e interaction i al o haped by the nat re o governmentand it intervention a well a by chance actor . Porter added thatthe e micro- o ndation wo ld be tronge t when they ormed cl -ter , a metaphor that denote a geographic concentration o compet-ing and cooperating companie , pplier , ervice provider , and a -

ociated in tit tion (Porter 1990). 1

Porter model ha been critici ed and debated 2 b t remain pop lar and i old in the orm o re-engineering ol tion by related Har-vard in tit tion ( or example, the In tit te or Competitivene andIn tit te or Competitivene and Strategy) and a ociated trategyfrm ( ch a the Monitor Gro p and ontheFRONTIER Gro p.).Thro gh it joint claim to experti e and e ort , Porter cl ter-ba ed competitivene concept wa applied to di erent co ntrie (e.g.Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Port gal, Sweden, and Switzer-land) and region (e.g. Atlanta, Central E ropean Region-Vienna,and Hong Kong/PRD). Several trategy frm (e.g. ontheFRON-

1 Clusters are made visible via the technique of cluster charts which identify localindustries based on export statistics and use the diamond model to test selected casesto establish a pool of unique clusters.

2 For a summary of this debate, see Martin and Sunley (2003).


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struggles against wal-martisation and neoliberal competitiveness in (southern) china 159

TIER Gro p) have adapted thi model to emerging market (e.g.Mexico and Rwanda). The di co r e o competitivene ha al o been

adopted/adapted/recontext ali ed on di erent cale by internationalorgani ation (e.g. World Economic For m and UNIDO), regionalbank (e.g. A ian Development Bank), national agencie (e.g. UnitedState Agency or International Development) and city governmentand organi ation ( ee Table 1).

ScalesExamples of institutionsInvolved

Examples of competitivenessdiscourses/instruments

International

World Economic ForumGlobal

Competitiveness Index

The Competitiveness Institute

The Cluster Initiative

DatabaseThe Cluster Initiative

Greenbook 2003

United Nations IndustrialDevelopment Organization(UNIDO)

Clusters and Networks

DevelopmentProgramme 2005

Regional

Asian Development Bank

Asian Development

Outlook 2003: IIICompetitiveness inDeveloping Countries

African UnionPan African

CompetitivenessForum 2008

Inter-American DevelopmentBank

Competitiveness of

Small Enterprises:Cluster and LocalDevelopment 2007

Local/CityNumerous (inter-)citycompetitiveness projects andplans

OECDs International

Conference on CityCompetitiveness 2005The Hong Kong

Advantage 1997 Blue Book of City

Competitiveness inChina 2008

(Source: Authors own compilation)

Table 1Some examples of institutionsand discourses related to

competitiveness acrossdifferent scales


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From a power-political per pective, Fo ca lt arg e that metaphor(like cl ter) nction a key part o the vario technologie o

power that con tit te and govern h man ociety. S ch di c r ivetechnologie organi e a feld o power-knowledge that govern wayo eeing and repre enting economic realitie and o di ciplining eco-nomic agent . In the e term , Porter cl ter metaphor ha becomepart o a technology o power that not only normali e competitive-ne /development b t al o hape and di cipline the organi ation o

pace, policie and pop lation. It nat rali e cl ter a driver andpillar or national or regional economic competitivene and di ci-pline actor to treat the e pace a (potential) cl ter in which there pective actor interact to optimi e per ormance. It al o target pol-icie , b dget and training to pport cl ter initiative and teer na-tion and/or region (and their pop lation) toward b ilding plat-

orm and cheme to a i t the ormation o cl ter (S m 2009a).

Recontextualing neoliberal competitiveness in the Pearl River DeltaThi tran national body o knowledge wa tran erred to Hong Kong/Pearl River Delta and recontext ali ed in two tage rom the mid-1990 onward . Deploying the cl ter metaphor, local policy mak-er (e.g. the then Financial Secretary, Donald T ang), ervice-orient-ed b ine men (e.g. Victor F ng) and thinktank (e.g. Hong KongCoalition o Service Ind trie ) pon ored Harvard-related academic(e.g. Michael Enright) and related con ltancy frm (e.g. Enright andScott) tran erred the model to Hong Kong j t be ore the 1997 tran-

ition rom a Briti h colony into a Special Admini trative Region o China. Their report, The Hong Kong Advantage , empha i ed the prob-lem o man act ring decline in Hong Kong and narrated it in term

o the hi t rom a man al/enclave to a knowledge/metropolitaneconomy (Enright et al. 1997: 13). Hong Kong wa portrayed a ametropolitan ervice economy which erved a packager and inte-grator o activitie or the global economy, a leading o rce o or-eign inve tment, a centre or over ea frm , the capital or the over-

ea frm , and driver o the Mainland economy (Enright et al. 1997:80). Thi en raming highlighted it role a a nctional pace or or-eign direct inve tment. Thi pace i occ pied by fve linked cl ter(i.e. b ine and fnancial ervice , tran port and logi tic , light man-

act ring and trading, property and con tr ction, and to ri m) that

are rein orced by locali ed lai ez- aire practice o government are eree pported by the h tle and commitment trategie o HongKong merchant man act rer and the ocietal etho o hard-work-ing people ( ee e pecially 1997: 34-40, 45-6 and 85).

Hong Kong was portrayedas a metropolitan serviceeconomy which served aspackagers and integratorsof activities for the globaleconomy, a leading sourceof foreign investment, acentre for overseas rms, thecapital for the overseas rms,and driver of the Mainlandeconomy.


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Thi narration o Hong Kong a a global-oriented ervice ite habeen rein orced and extended ince 2000 in a erie o t die linked

to the econd report. In anticipation o China WTO entry, the Har-vard imaginary cro ed border via the joint e ort o ervice actor

ch a the Hong Kong Chamber o Commerce, the Hong Kong Co-alition o Service Ind trie and another non-proft thinktank chairedby Victor F ng (the 2022 Fo ndation). Together they deployed the

patial metaphor o ervice metropoli , 3 and thi wa later made moreconcrete by Enright and Scott in their J ne 2003 report, which intro-d ced the patial imaginary o Greater Pearl River Delta (PRD). Itenvi aged Hong Kong playing it ervice role and the PRD erving aa man act ring ite, thereby enabling the PRD to become a region-al economic powerho e. A government q ango called Inve tHKcommi ioned Enright and Scott to t dy the inve tment potential o each bregion in the Greater PRD. Their re lt , pl the earlier report, appeared a a book pon ored once more by the 2022 Fo nda-tion (Enright, Scott and Chang 2005). The trong cooperation reit-erated the normality o competitivene and the cl ter metaphor.Th the Greater PRD i mapped a a new ervice-man act ringregional powerho e occ pied by diver e export-oriented cl ter(e.g. toy , pla tic, k itchen tool , lamp ) ( ee Map 1) o ering opport -

nitie or oreign direct inve tment and global o rcing in China.Thi vi ion i al o backed by other organi ation (e.g. the Trade De-velopment Co ncil).

3 The 2022 Foundation publication on the PRD is available onhttp://www.2022foundation.com/index.asp?party=reports , last accessed 11 June 2007.

The Hong Kong Advantageemphasised the problemof manufacturing declinein Hong Kong and narratedit in terms of the shift froma manual/enclave to aknowledge/metropolitan

economy.


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HuizhouLaser diodesDigital electronicsCD-RomsTelephonesBatteriesCircuit boardsPrecision machinery

PlasticsChemicals

DongguanElectronicsComputersComponentsPeripheralsGarmentsFurnitureShoesToysWatchesClocksCutleryKitchen toolsSoldering machineryAngling equipment

ShenzhenElectronicsComputer prodsTelecom prodsICsToysPlasticsWatchesClocksOil paintingsPort servicesLogisticsFinance

PrintingArticial trees

PanyuSports goodsTextilesGarments

JewelleryToysElectric supply equipShipping containers

ZhongshanLighting xturesLampsMetal productsMotorcyclesCasual wearLocksAudio equipment

JiangmenTextilesGarments

PaperBatteries

KaipingWater-heating EquipmentSanitary ware

ShundeElectrical appliancesWoodworkingShipping containersFurnitureMachineryBicycles

FoshanIndustrial ceramicsCeramic artworkNeedleworkTextilesChildren's garments

ChencunFlower farmingOrnamental shTurf farming

GuangzhouAutos and partsTransport equipElectrical prodsElectronicsChemicalsGarmentsTextilesBusiness servicesSoftwareToys

NanhaiTextilesAluminium prodsMotorcyclesUnderwear

HumenGarmentsElectronics

Wal-Martisation and related struggles/negotiationsGlobal giant pply/retail chain , ch a Wal-Mart, o rce rom, andal o retail in, the region. In 1995, Wal-Mart China ormed a 65:35

joint vent re with the tate-owned Shenzhen International Tr tand Inve tment Company (SZITIC) in China. The latter ha trongtie to local and central government , which enable related frm to

ec re land deal at avo rable price . Wal-Mart China al o et pit global proc rement centre in Shenzhen and regional headq arter in Hong Kong in 2002 and 2007 re pectively. Seventy per cent o all

Map 1: Mapping of production clusters in the Pearl River Delta

Source: "Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta: the EconomicInteraction", M. Enright et al., 2003.

Exhibit: Localised Industries in the Pearl River Delta Region


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prod ct old by Wal-Mart in 2005 were made in China and 80 per cent o the 6,000 actorie that pply it were Chine e. 4 Between 2001

and 2006, Wal-Mart acco nted or approximately 9.6 per cent o to-tal US import rom China (Scott 2007). The e data indicate the im-portance o Chine e pplier to Wal-Mart e pecially in it b ine

trategy o Alway Low Price . The e o a pecial o tware pro-gramme Retail Link ( ince 1991) acil itate the earch or price-val ecompetitivene beca e it connect it retailing with the global p-ply chain to create what the main tream economic and managementliterat re wo ld call a j t-in-time pply y tem linking all tore ,di trib tion centre and pplier , giving frm big co t advantage(Holme 2001; Ba ker 2007). However, ch lean practice can al obe employed coercively (Free 2006: 14-16; 2007: 900) in the everydayoperation o di co nt-ba ed mega-retailer .

Their acco nting practice req ire all pplier to open their acco ntto the mega-retailer (called open book acco nting). Armed with in-

ormation abo t pplier co t and margin , Wal-Mart managercan ro tinely eval ate change in each pplier co t and margina well a req ire it to match it lowe t price or even c t it. It al o in-trod ce a orm o coordinated competition among pplier , or ex-

ample by a king a pecifc pplier to match the lower price o com-peting pplier . Thi frm grip over pplier -man act rer and the

nrelenting p h or co t and price-val e competitivene mean thatman act rer , in t rn, m t pa on their co t and prod ction in e-c rity (e.g. topping order ) to their worker . The re lting trend toWal-Marti ation modife the ocial relation o prod ction ch thatpower hi t rom pplier -man act rer to giant retailer with the

ormer trickling in ec rity and poverty down to their exible work-orce in p r ing thi low-co t di ciplinary trategy.

Thi change ha prompted (tran )national and local concern amongnion , NGO and comm nity gro p ch a AFL-CIO Eye on

WalMart, CorpWatch, Wal-Mart Watch, Wake-Up Wal-Mart,Sprawl-B ter , Frontline, Wal-Mart Cla Web ite, and St dentand Scholar Again t Corporate Mi behavio r (SACOM) targetingthe land e and labo r problem o the corporation. More pecif-cally, SACOM, a Hong Kong-ba ed NGO, adopt trategie to: (a)monitor m ltinational corporation ch a Wal-Mart thro gh p b-

4 The rst statistics come from PriceWaterHouseCooper, Redening IntellectualProperty Value: the Case of China , 2005, p. 63, http://www.pwc.com/techforecast/pdfs/IPR-web_x.pdf, accessed on 6 September 2007; and the second from AFL-CIO, Paying the Price of Wal-Mart , http://www.acio.org/corporatewatch/walmart/walmart_1.cfm, accessed on 6 September 2007.


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lic campaign ; (b) enhance global-local networking activitie amongworker , NGO , t dent gro p , trade nion , h man right activ-

i t , lawyer , academic , environmentali t and ethical con mer ine ort to reg late corporate power; and (c) empower the labo r orcea active agent in promoting right in the workplace. S ch local andtran national gro p have had poradic cce e , e pecially on ca e-

pecifc ba e , in la nching critical report , 5 redre ing n air di -mi al and etting p worker training co r e and committee ( eeal o S m 2009b). However, ch tran national bottom- p attempt

ace con tant tr ggle over nding, i e dri t a NGO o thi kindmove rom one pecifc i e to the next, and the di c lt ie o elect-ing partner with whom to orm co nter-hegemonic alliance with-o t being co-opted into the neoliberal game.

In China, thi bottom- p trategy ha been complicated by a top-down one p r ed by the Chine e government, which till claim tooperate nder the banner o ociali m with Chine e characteri tic .There are di c ltie and contradiction aced by the central govern-ment, the Chine e Comm ni t Party, and the o cial nion (All-China Federation o Trade Union ) (ACFTU) concerning how to re-

olve the ten ion and contradiction between neoliberali ation, prior

ociali t val e and ocial tability. The pread o Wal-Marti ationand o marketi ation more generally ha inten ifed the e ten ion ,which incl de the competitive drive o local tate to attract oreigndirect inve tment, the clo e relation hip between the e tate and glo-bal capital, the exi tence o weat hop labo r, the ri e o labo r andcivil nre t, the expropriation o armer land by local a thoritie tocon tr ct actorie / hopping mall , increa ing nemployment and the oating pop lation crowded into city l m , and the perva iveneo environmental degradation.

One trategy to maintain ocial tability i or the central governmentand the ACFTU to req ire large oreign corporation , ch a Wal-Mart, to e tabli h nion . Wal-Mart wa the fr t to be targeted on 14

5 SACOM published a report entitled Wal-Marts Sweatshop Monitoring Fails to CatchViolations in 2007 on three toy factories in southern China. It revealed problemsrelated to the implementation of corporate social responsibility of Wal-Mart. Theseincluded factory inspections which were announced in advance and managerscoaching workers to give the correct answers about their working conditions. Workerswere also encouraged to become voluntary liars through a material incentive of RMB

50 Yuan (approximately US$ 8 at prevailing exchange rate) and were also told the littlecapitalist tale that a factorys loss of orders would translate directly into workers lossof future employment opportunities. In addition, factory owners manufactured wagedocuments and time cards that indicated that workers were suffi ciently paid in termsof base and overtime wages without exceeding the maximum working hours. In reality,workers monthly wages shrank signicantly and overtime was not recorded (2007: 15).

There are diffi culties andcontradictions faced by the

central government, theChinese Communist Party,and the offi cial union (All-China Federation of TradeUnions) (ACFTU) concerninghow to resolve the tensionsand contradictions betweenneoliberalisation, priorsocialist values and socialstability.


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March 2006 when Pre ident H ordered the ACFTU to do a better job in e tabli hing trade nion in oreign-inve ted enterpri e . Thi

enabled the ACFTU, which had experienced a all in member hip,to negotiate with Wal-Mart on etting p branch nion . De piteinitial re i tance, nion were et p in 77 o t o 84 tore by J ly2007. Some q e tion whether the e locali ed entitie g ided by theACFTU act ally promote worker right or merely boo t it declin-ing member hip (Chan 2007); and to ndermine the threat rom n-o cial and ndergro nd nion movement , according to one report,

ix month a ter their introd ction, Wal-Mart nion branche havedone little more than organize ocial event and r n employee cl b (R witch 2007: 4).

Towards postneoliberalism as an alternative?Conc rrent with thi top-down re pon e to emerging problem , thenew le t in China critici ed marketi ation and global engagement,e pecially a ter China entry into the WTO. Some call or le AdamSmith and more Friedrich Li t in term o b ilding tate capacitieand economic ec rity (He 2000; Wang 2006). In thi more criti-cal climate, the Chine e central government (then led by Pre ident

H and Premier Wen) embarked on the political ta k o promotingocial j tice, regaining control over local exce e (e.g. corr ptionand land appropriation by b rea crat ), and b ilding a new ociali tco ntry ide ince 2004. The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) re ect-ed the e trend by empha i ing the b ilding o a harmonio ociali t

ociety with a people-fr t and poverty-red ction agenda. The epolicie aimed to tackle ocial in tability coincided with the 2008 glo-bal fnancial cri i . De pite an initial view that China wo ld not bea ected, the fnancial t nami i ca ing a tock market cra h, loo oreign direct inve tment, declining export , man act ring low-

down, ri ing nemployment, and o on.

De pite the e problem , China i relatively c hioned by oreign re-erve o ome us$ 1.8 trillion and by the act that it fnancial ector

i not lly open. However, the cri i i hitting it export competi-tivene and related cl ter a t. It i e timated that one q arter o the 70,000 Hong Kong-owned frm in the PRD will h t by early2009. Thi ha tim lated mea re ch a tax relie and increa edgovernment pending a well a di c ion on national protection-i m and whether China ho ld deploy part o it re erve to nder-write American/E ropean debt or e them or ocial p rpo e athome (e.g. development o health and ed cation, e pecially in r ralarea ). Until September 2008, the ocial agenda till ranked high, a


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evidenced in Wen peech in the State Co ncil reception to celebratethe 59th anniver ary o the o nding o the People Rep blic. Thi

proclaimed that China wo ld contin e to tick to re orm and open-ing p, promote ocial harmony and trive or new achievement inb ilding a moderately pro pero ociety ( Peoples Daily 2008).

Notwith tanding thi o cial po itioning, it i nclear what the e ob- jective imply or the b ilding o Chine e ociali m. For example,will the ocial agenda act merely a a anking mechani m that c h-ion the impact o rther privati ation (e.g., r ral land right ) andmarket-opening in the roll-o t tage o neoliberali m? Will it rein-vent Con ciani m o that it i artic lated to ocial-capitali t open-ing with a datong (great harmony) nationali t imagination or co ldit help to re tore the overeign place o the people/ baltern gro pwithin the el -proclaimed y tem o ociali m with a Chine e char-acteri tic that might then eek a elective relinking with world capi-tali m? The e di c ion re onate with the more general q e tiono the t re o ociali m el ewhere, e pecially d ring the period o neoliberal fnancial cri i and economic rece ion. The c rrent re-vival o (tran national) tate intervention and (global) Keyne iani mmay be hyped by ome a a ret rn to ome kind o democratic ocial-

i m; whil t other member o the tran national le t may regard po t-neoliberal development in Latin America (e.g., Chavez project inVenez ela) a 21 t cent ry ociali m. The latter involve gra root /pop lar orce and cla e gaining a oothold in the tate and tili -ing it to tran orm policie , e pecially at local level . Do the Chavezproject and imilar movement in Bolivia and Ec ador ill minate the

earch or a po tneoliberal t re? Drawing on Je op and Gram ci,two ca tion are nece ary be ore thi i accepted a a le twing arti-cle o aith.

Fir t, the ca e o China and it grad al integration with global capital-i m may ill trate Je op idea o the variegated nat re o the worldmarket that i , the co-exi tence, complementarity and tr ct r-al co pling o di erent type o capitali m and other economic or-mation in the global economy. 6 Thi can be een in the co pling

6 While varieties of capitalism are often analysed in isolation from each other as if eachwere viable without other varieties, variegated capitalism explores the links amongvarieties of capitalism within the world market whether due to their respectivespecialisations in the international division of labour, their respective modes of

regulation and forms of state, their respective temporalities, or their respectivepositions as creditors and debtors. This perspective excludes the generalisation ofone variety to the whole world market as well as simplistic forms of regime shopping,in which social forces seek to combine features of different varieties of capitalism toseek the optimum balance among them (personal communication from Bob Jessop, 25September 2008).

The case of China and itsgradual integration with global

capitalism may illustrateJessops idea of the variegatednature of the world market.


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o o thern Chine e coa tal exporti m with the clo e tie betweenlocal a thoritie and global capital embedded in a central govern-

ment p hing or a ocial agenda. Likewi e, in Venez ela, we fnd anexport-oriented rentier economy that c rrently pport a tempo-rary cohabitation o neoliberal capitali m and dome tic pragmatic le tpop li m that c t acro cla line . China and Venez ela, each in itown way, combine tati m, pop li m and market-oriented element ;and both contrib te, in a path-dependent and path- haping manner,to the ongoing tr ggle aro nd the t re o a (po t-) Wa hingtonCon en world (di -)order.

Second, are H /Wen ocial agenda and Chavez po tneoliberalproject good alternative ? Cr cial here, rom a Gram cian per pec-tive, i the di tinction between integral tate (political ociety +civil ociety) and ( el -)reg lated ociety ( tate witho t a tate). The

ormer characteri e capitali t ocietie and involve the interpene-tration and rein orcement o political ociety and civil ociety inwhich the r ling cla (e ) compete or hegemony. The latter i morerelevant to the ociali t project and all de to the progre ive re-ab-

orption o political ociety into civi l ociety with the tate a tenden-tially capable o withering away and b med into the ( el -) reg -

lated ociety. In thi context, the ta k o baltern cla e and tratacannot be confned to participating in the integral tate (with theattendant ri k o being b med into a contin ing tati t politic ) or to e caping integration into the proft-oriented economy by engagingin orm o tate-led b ilding o new ociali t co ntry ide in Chinaor worker el -management and/or cooperative in Venez ela. In thiregard, the H /Wen and Chavez trategie need rther cr tiny. Thecoexi tence o capitali t- ociali t way o managing ocial relationdoe not mean ociali t element will event ally di place capitali tone . F rthermore, the prevailing balance among capitali t and o-ciali t takeholder mean that pro-capitali t/neoliberal action co ld

til l wing power (e.g. the 2007 No vote on Chavez con tit tionalchange in Venez ela). Thi battle or hegemony cannot rely on per-

onal chari ma (whether o a Chavez or H /Wen), vang ard partyand radical rhetoric/practice (e.g. b ilding o new ociali t co ntry-

ide in China or the creation o comm nity co ncil in Venez ela)to manage the many capitali t- ociali t contradiction and tate-civil

ociety dialectic . S rely omething more i req ired (e.g. the de-velopment o organic relation between the baltern and the civil

ociety and the deepening o the philo ophy o praxi ) to deliver onGram ci vi ion o a ( el -)reg lated ociety ba ed on j tice and there-ab orption o political ociety into civil ociety.


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Sum, Ngai-Ling - Struggle Against Wal-Martisation and Neoliberal Competitiveness in China