Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T09:25:24.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Religion and the Regime

Cooperation and Conflict in Contemporary Russia and China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2017

Get access

Extract

What is the nature of religion and state relations in authoritarian regimes? How do religious and regime actors negotiate the terms of their relationship;what do the two sides want from one another; and how cooperative or conflictual are their interactions? To address these questions, the author compares religion-regime relations in contemporary Russia and China—two autocracies with long histories of religious repression, diverse religious profiles, and distinct relations between religion and the state. The article introduces a new theoretical framework anchored in interests and subnational authoritarian politics to explain how religious and political authorities negotiate their relationship and the constraints and opportunities that shape their interaction. Although there are many reasons to expect different types of religion-regime relations across Russia and China, the data demonstrate that subnational governments and diverse religious actors often forge innovative partnerships to govern more efficiently, gain access to resources, and safeguard their survival.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambuel, David. 2006. “New Karma: Buddhism and Democratization in Thailand.” In Cheng, Tun-Jen and Brown, Deborah A., eds., Religious Organizations and Democratization. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Ashiwa, Yoshiko, and Wank, David L.. 2009. Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Borchert, Thomas. 2005. “Of Temples and Tourists: The Effects of the Tourist Political Economy on a Minority Buddhist Community in Southwest China.” In Yang, Fenggang and Tamney, Joseph B., eds., State, Market, and Religions in Chinese Societies. Boston, Mass.: Brill.Google Scholar
Bryanski, Gleb. 2012a. “Russian Church: Under attack after backing Putin.” Moscow-Reuters. April 3. At http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-church-statement-idUSBRE83214B20120403, accessed July 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Bryanski, Gleb. 2012b. “Russian patriarch calls Putin era ‘Miracle of God.’” Moscow-Reuters. February 8. At http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-putin-religion-idUKTRE81722Y20120208, accessed July 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, and Smith, Alastair. 2011. The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics. New York, N.Y.: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Smith, Alastair, Siverson, Randolph M., and Morrow, James D.. 2003. The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Burawoy, Michael, and Verdery, Katherine, eds. 1999. Uncertain Transitions: Ethnographies of Change in the Post Socialist World. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Cao, Nanlai. 2008. “Boss Christians: The Business of Religion in the ‘Wenzhou Model’ of Christian Revival.China Journal 59, January: 6187. doi: 10.1086/tcj.59.20066380.Google Scholar
Chan, Selina Ching, and Lang, Graeme. 2015. Building Temples in China. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chau, Adam Yuet. 2003. “Popular Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China.Journal of Chinese Religions 3, no. 1: 3979. doi: 10.1179/073776903804760076.Google Scholar
Chen, Cunfu, and Huang, Tianhai. 2004. “The Emergence of a New Type of Christians in China Today.Review of Religious Research 46, no. 2: 183200. doi: 10.2307/3512232.Google Scholar
Cheng, Tun-Jen, and Brown, Deborah A., eds. 2006. Religious Organizations and Democratization. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Church Mission Society. 2008. “China Earthquake: Love in Action.” May 23. At http://reliefweb.int/report/china/china-earthquake-love-action, accessed July 13, 2017.Google Scholar
Dolgov, Anna. 1999. “Moscow Scientology Center Raided.” Associated Press. February 26. At http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1999/Moscow-Scientology-Center-Raided/id-5944a610eb8f4ffc253ceb6b5219c563, accessed July 5, 2017.Google Scholar
Dunajeva, Jekatyerina, and Koesel, Karrie J.. 2017. “‘Us vs. Them’: The Politics of Religion in Contemporary Russia.Review of Faith & International Affairs 15, no. 1: 5667. doi: 10.1080/15570274.2017.1284402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dvorkin, Alexander. 1998. “A Presentation on the Situation in Russia: Scientology in Russia,Spirituality in East & West, no. 11: 1320.Google Scholar
Elliott, Mark, and Corrado, Sharyl. 1999. “The 1997 Russian Law on Religion.Religion, State and Society 27, no. 1: 109–43. doi: 10.1080/096374999106773.Google Scholar
Fagan, Geraldine. 2013. Believing in Russia—Religious Policy after Communism. Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2008. A World Survey of Religion and the State. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2015. Political Secularism, Religion, and the State: A Time Series Analysis of Worldwide Data. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 2016. The Unfree Exercise of Religion: A World Survey of Discrimination against Religious Minorities. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Frantz, Erica, and Kendall-Taylor, Andrea. 2014. “A Dictator's Toolkit.Journal of Peace Research 51, no. 3: 332–46. doi: 10.1177/0022343313519808.Google Scholar
Gandhi, Jennifer. 2008. Political Institutions under Dictatorship. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gandhi, Jennifer, and Przeworski, Adam. 2006. “Cooperation, Cooptation, and Rebellion under Dictatorships.Economics & Politics 18, no. 1: 126. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0343.2006.00160.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, Jennifer, and Przeworski, Adam. 2007. “Authoritarian Institutions and the Survival of Autocrats.Comparative Political Studies 40, no. 11: 12791301. doi: 10.1177/0010414007305817.Google Scholar
Gel'man, Vladimir, and Ross, Cameron, eds. 2010. The Politics of Subnational Authoritarianism in Russia. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Gill, Anthony. 1998. Rendering unto Caesar: The Catholic Church and the State in Latin America. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gill, Anthony. 2001. “Religion and Comparative Politics.Annual Review of Political Science 4: 117–38. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.117.Google Scholar
Gill, Anthony. 2008. The Political Origins of Religious Liberty. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goossaert, Vincent, and Palmer, David A.. 2011. The Religious Question in Modern China. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gorodovoi (Kirov). 1998. “Saentologija: psevdo-cerkov', psevdo-nauka, psevdo-pravda” [Scientology: pseudo-church, pseudo-science, pseudo-truth]. April 3. At http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/9804a.html#02, accessed July 5, 2017.Google Scholar
Graney, Kate. 2007. “Making Russia Multicultural: Kazan at Its Millennium and Beyond.Problems of Post-Communism 54, no. 6: 1727. doi: 10.2753/PPC1075-8216540602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grim, Brian J., and Finke, Roger. 2011. The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gryzmala-Busse, Anna. 2015. Nations under God: How Churches Use Moral Authority to Influence Policy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gryzmala-Busse, Anna. 2016. “Weapons of the Meek: How Churches Influence Public Policy.World Politics 68, no. 1 ( January): 136. doi: 10.1017/S0043887115000301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haber, Stephen. 2008. “Authoritarian Government.” In Weingast, Barry R. and Wittman, Donald A., eds., The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy. Oxford, UK: Oxford Handbooks Online, Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548477.003.0038.Google Scholar
Iannaccone, Laurence R. 1998. “Introduction to the Economics of Religion.Journal of Economic Literature 36, no. 3: 1465–95. At http://www.jstor.org/stable/2564806, accessed July 4, 2017.Google Scholar
Jacoby, Wade. 2006. “Inspiration, Coalition, and Substitution.World Politics 58, no. 4 (July): 623–51. doi: 10.1353/wp.2007.0010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jelen, Ted G., ed. 2002. Sacred Markets, Sacred Canopies: Essays on Religious Markets and Religious Pluralism. Lanhan, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Jinshan Nianjian. 1996 [Jinshan Yearbook 1996]. Shanghai, China: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe.Google Scholar
Jinshan Nianjian. 2001 [Jinshan Yearbook 2001]. Shanghai, China: Hanyu dacidian chubanshe.Google Scholar
Johnston, Hank, and Figa, Jozef. 1988. “The Church and Political Opposition: Comparative Perspectives on Mobilization against Authoritarian Regimes.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27, no. 1: 3247. doi: 10.2307/1387400.Google Scholar
Kaariainen, Kimmo. 1998. Religion in Russia after the Collapse of Communism. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Kindopp, Jason. 2004. “Policy Dilemmas in China's Church-State Relations: An Introduction.” In Kindopp, Jason and Hamrin, Carol Lee, eds., God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications for Church-State Tensions. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Kinossian, Nadir V. 2008. “The Politics of the City Image: The Resurrection of the Kul-Sharif Mosque in the Kazan Kremlin (1995–2005).Architectural Theory Review 13, no. 2: 188205. doi: 10.1080/13264820802216551.Google Scholar
Koesel, Karrie J. 2014. Religion and Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict, and the Consequences. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Koesel, Karrie J. 2017. “China's Patriotic Pentecostals.” In Yang, Fenggang, Tong, Joy K. C., and Anderson, Allan H., eds., Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.Google Scholar
Kuchma, Anna. 2016. “Where does the Russian Orthodox Church get its money from?” Russia Beyond the Headlines. March 9. At http://rbth.com/business/2016/03/09/where-does-the-russian-orthodox-church-get-its-money-from_574079, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Lake, David A., and Baum, Matthew A.. 2001. “The Invisible Hand of Democracy.Comparative Political Studies 34, no. 6: 587621. doi: 10.1177/0010414001034006001.Google Scholar
Landry, Pierre F. 2008. Decentralized Authoritarianism in China: The Communist Party's Control of Local Elites in the Post-Mao Era. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Levada Center. 2013. “Ot mneniy—k ponimaniyu. Obshchestvennoye mneniye.” Moscow, Russia: Levada Center. At http://www.levada.ru/sites/default/files/om13.pdf, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Lieberthal, Kenneth G. 1992. “Introduction: The ‘Fragmented Authoritarianism’ Model and its Limitations.” In Lieberthal, Kenneth G. and Lampton, David M., eds., Bureaucracy, Politics and Decision Making in Post-Mao China. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J. 2004. “The Religious Use of Politics and/or the Political Use of Religion: Ersatz Ideology versus Ersatz Religion.” In Maier, Hans, ed., Bruhn, Jodi, trans., Totalitarianism and Political Religions Volume 1: Concepts for the Comparison of Dictatorships. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Löfstedt, Torsten. 2012. “Religious Revival among Orthodox and Pentecostals in Russia.Religion, State, and Society 40, no. 1: 92111. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1080/09637494.2011.647458.Google Scholar
Lunkin, Roman. 2014. “Rossiyskiye protestanty i Ukraina: Ispytaniye patriotizmom” [Russian Protestants and Ukraine: A test of patriotism]. Russian Review 63. At http://www.keston.org.uk/russianreview-63.php, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Manuel, Paul Christopher. 2014. “The Roman Catholic Church and Political Regime in Portugal and Spain: Support, Opposition, and Separation.” In Tamadonfar, Mehran and Jelen, Ted G., eds., Religion and Regimes. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Marsh, Christopher. 2011. Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppression, Survival, and Revival. New York, N.Y.: Continuum International Publishing Company.Google Scholar
McCallum, Fiona. 2012. “Religious Institutions and Authoritarian States: Church-State Relations in the Middle East.Third World Quarterly 33, no. 1: 109–24. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2012.627238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mertha, Andrew. 2009. “‘Fragmented Authoritarianism 2.0’: Political Pluralization in the Chinese Policy Process.China Quarterly 200: 9951012. doi: 10.1017/S0305741009990592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moen, Matthew C., and Gustafson, Lowell S., eds. 1992. The Religious Challenge to the State. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Moscow Patriarchate Synodal Department for Prison Service [Sinodal'nogo otdela Moskovskogo Patriarkhata po tyuremnomu sluzheniyu]. 2017. “Khramy v Uchrezhdeniyakh Ugolovno-ispolnitel'noy Sistemy” [Churches in the institutions of the penitentiary system]. At http://anastasia-uz.ru/index/novgorodskaja_mitropolija/0-776, accessed July 5, 2017.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo. 1979. Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism: Studies in South American Politics. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Institute of International Studies.Google Scholar
Ownby, David. 2007. “Qigong, Falun Gong and the Body Politic in Contemporary China.” In Jensen, Lionel M. and Weston, Timothy B., eds., China's Transformations: The Stories beyond the Headlines. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Palmer, David A. 2007. Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China. New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Pei, Minxin. 2006. China's Trapped Transition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J., and Selden, Mark, eds. 2003. Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance, 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2015. “The Future of World Religion: Population Growth Projections 2010–2050.” April 2. At http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2016. “Trends in Global Restrictions on Religion.” June 23. At http://www.pewforum.org/2016/06/23/trends-in-global-restrictions-on-religion/, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Philpott, Daniel. 2007. “Explaining the Political Ambivalence of Religion.American Political Science Review 101, no. 3: 505–24. doi: 10.1017/S0003055407070372.Google Scholar
Potter, Pitman B. 2003. “Belief in Control: Regulation of Religion in China.China Quarterly 174, June: 317–37. doi: 10.1017/S0009443903000202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putin, Vladimir. 2013. “Interview for ‘The Second Baptism of Rus.’” Rossiya 1 TV. July 22. At http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/18872, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Qingpu Nianjian. 2002. [Qingpu Yearbook 2002]. Shanghai, China: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ramet, Sabrina Petra, ed. 1992. Adaptation and Transformation in Communist and Post-Communist Systems. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ramet, Sabrina Petra, ed. 1998. Nihil Obstat: Religion, Politics, and Social Change in East-Central Europe and Russia. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Richters, Katja. 2013. The Post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church: Politics, Culture and Greater Russia. Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roslof, Edward E. 2002. Red Priests: Renovationism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Revolution, 1905–1946. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Rowe, Paul. 2009. “Building Coptic Civil Society: Christian Groups and the State in Mubarak's Egypt.Middle Eastern Studies 45, no. 1: 111–26. doi: 10.1080/00263200802548147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarkissian, Ani. 2012. “Religious Regulation and the Muslim Democracy Gap.Politics and Religion 5, no. 3: 501–27. doi: 10.1017/S1755048312000284.Google Scholar
Sarkissian, Ani. 2015. The Varieties of Religious Repression: Why Governments Restrict Religion. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 2002. “Elections without Democracy: The Menu of Manipulation.Journal of Democracy 13, no. 2: 36–50. doi: 10.1353/jod.2002.0031.Google Scholar
Schedler, Andreas. 2013. The Politics of Uncertainty: Sustaining and Subverting Electoral Authoritarianism. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Seul, Jeffrey R. 1999. “‘Ours is the Way of God’: Religion, Identity, and Intergroup Conflict.Journal of Peace Research 36, no. 5: 553–69. doi: 10.1177/0022343399036005004.Google Scholar
Shanghai Municipal Government. 2004. “Suburban Relics Saved.” November 21. At http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/shanghai/node17256/node18151/userobject22ai14923.html, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Shterin, Marat. 2016. “Friends and Foes of the ‘Russian World’: The Post-Soviet State's Management of Religious Diversity.” In Dawson, Andrew, ed., The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity: National Contexts, Global Issues. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Smith, Christian, ed. 1996. Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social Movement Activism. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sobornost. 2001. “Religija v Nizhnem Novgorode: itogi pereregistracii religioznyh ob'edinenij. Administracija Nizhnego Novgoroda ne rekomenduet sotrudnichat's nekotorymi religioznymi ob'edinenijami” [Religion in Nizhny Novgorod: results of re-registration of religious associations. Nizhny Novgorod administration recommends noncooperation with several religious associations]. March 6. At http://orthodox.etel.ru/2001/07/novg.htm, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Songjiang Nianjian. 2005 [Songjiang Yearbook 2004]. Shanghai, China: Hanyu dacidian chubanshe.Google Scholar
Stark, Rodney, and Finke, Roger. 2000. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Steen, Anton, and Gel'man, Vladimir. 2003. Elite and Democratic Development in Russia. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sun, Phoebe. 2012. “Four Years of Sichuan Earthquake Disaster Relief Awakes China House Church to Social Services.Gospel Herald. May 22. At http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/47761/20120522/four-years-of-sichuan-earthquake-disaster-relief-awakes-china-house-church-to-social-services.htm, accessed July 5, 2017.Google Scholar
Svolik, Milan W. 2012. The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Swidler, Ann. 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.American Sociological Review 51, no. 2: 273–86. At http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095521.Google Scholar
Tamadonfar, Mehran, and Jelen, Ted G., eds. 2014. Religion and Regimes: Support, Separation, and Opposition. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 1998. Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics, 2nd ed. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Toft, Monica Duffy, Philpott, Daniel, and Shah, Timothy Samuel. 2011. God's Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Tong, James W. 2009. Revenge of the Forbidden City: The Suppression of the Falungong in China, 1999–2005. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Torbakov, Igor. 2014. “The Russian Orthodox Church and Contestations over History in Contemporary Russia.Demokratizatsiya 22, no. 1: 145–70.Google Scholar
Trejo, Guillermo. 2014. Popular Movements in Autocracies: Religion, Repression, and Indigenous Collective Action in Mexico. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tsai, Lily L. 2007. Accountability without Democracy: Solidarity Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vala, Carsten T. 2009. “Pathways to the Pulpit: Leadership Training in ‘Patriotic’ and Unregistered Chinese Protestant Churches.” In Ashiwa, Yoshiko and Wank, David L., eds., Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Vala, Carsten T. 2017. The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-state in China: God above Party? New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Verkhovsky, Alexander, ed. 2015. “Freedom of Conscience in Russia: Restrictions and Challenges in 2014.SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. April 24. At http://www.sova-center.ru/en/religion/publications/2015/04/d31858/, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Wang, Yongshun. 2000. Songjiang nianjian (1998–1999) [Songjiang yearbook (1998–1999)]. Shanghai, China: Xuelin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Warner, Carolyn M. 2000. Confessions of an Interest Group: The Catholic Church and Political Parties in Europe. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Weeks, Jessica L. 2008. “Autocratic Audience Costs: Regime Type and Signaling Resolve.International Organization 62, no. 1: 3564. doi: 10.1017/S0020818308080028.Google Scholar
Weir, Fred. 2011. “Russia emerges as Europe's most God-believing nation.Christian Science Monitor. May 6. At http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0506/Russia-emerges-as-Europe-s-most-God-believing-nation, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Steven I. 2004. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wintrobe, Ronald. 1990. “The Tinpot and the Totalitarian: An Economic Theory of Dictatorship.American Political Science Review 84, no. 3: 849–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wintrobe, Ronald. 2001. “How to Understand and Deal with Dictatorship: An Economist's View.Economics and Governance 2, no. 1: 3558. doi: 10.1007/s10101-001-8001-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, Jiao. 2007. “Religious believers thrice the estimate.China Daily. February 7. At http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-02/07/content_802994.htm, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Xinhua. 2015. “China Focus: Xi Call for Improved Religious Work.” April 23. At http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/23/c_135306131.htm, accessed May 1, 2017.Google Scholar
Yang, Fenggang. 2012. Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Yang, Fenggang, Tong, Joy K. C., and Anderson, Allan H., eds. 2017. Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.Google Scholar
Young, Lawrence A., ed. 1997. Rational Choice Theory and Religion: Summary and Assessment. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar