Remade in China is an excellent academic book on the forces that have transformed China over the last three decades. It is a thoughtful, empirical analysis of the impact of foreign investment on the process of institutional change in China. It will be of interest to China scholars, particularly those interested in foreign investment and the processes of change that are occurring on the ground as well as those interested in broader theories of economic development and institutional change.

There are two fields that come together in Wilson's work, political science and the study of economic development in China. In both of these areas, Remade in China is a breath of fresh air. With respect to political science, in an era in which the field has chased economics down the rabbit-hole of rational choice theory, this book is a refreshing throwback. Wilson is not interested in theoretical models based on narrow assumptions that tell us little about the real world; rather, he is interested in the empirical reality of an important phenomenon occurring in Chinese society. With respect to the study of economic development in China, oddly, few studies have focused systematically on the impact of foreign investors on institutional change in China. It is important to note, however, that although Wilson's book does not follow the trends of his field in rational choice theory, game theory analysis or heavy math (and is much the better for it, in my opinion), the book has an important theoretical point of view: Wilson's theory of “state-guided globalization” contends that there are key institutional forces and organizational players at macro-, meso- and micro-levels, and these are all interacting with each other. How a given country's leaders allow these forces to interact shapes the development process in that country. Also in play are the pre-existing institutions in place when a country begins to walk down the path of economic development. In the case of China, an openness to foreign investment and the desire among domestic players to attract foreign investment have made foreign firms, foreign lawyers and consultants key players in carrying the institutional logics of the international community into the Chinese economy. According to Wilson, these international actors “supply information about alternative institutional designs, provide feedback on domestic institutions, offer new criteria by which to evaluate institutions, and train professional practitioners in the form and logic of foreign institutions” (p. 40). (It is actually an argument that reads a lot like neo-institutional theory in sociology, though that literature is not cited here.) The unexpected twist for China in this model of state-guided globalization is that the state has been trying “to harness global forces it cannot fully control in order to advance its long-term development strategy and short-term goals” (p. 43).

In order to carry out this study, Wilson conducted nearly 100 in-depth interviews over the course of the last decade; the vast majority of these interviews took place in 2000–01, though he also conducted formal interviews in 2003, 2005 and 2008. This is the kind of good, old-fashioned empirical research where the researcher rolls up his or her sleeves, spends time in the field, talks to people, gathers good qualitative data and tells you something you did not know about this important phenomenon. The text is rich with quotes from these 100 interviews, and this use of qualitative data makes the text come alive in crucial ways. As Wilson's study unfolds, you will find specific analyses about the shift away from the joint venture toward the wholly foreign-owned enterprise as the primary vehicle of investment in China; the unexpected ways in which the rule of law and social connections interact at the local level; pay for performance practices; labour mobility; the Chinese International Economic Trade and Arbitration Commission. These are all important issues in their own right, but each serves as a nice illustration of Wilson's argument about the interactions among international institutions and norms, multinational corporations, foreign lawyers and consultants, and all of the domestic players they are engaging.

The one thing that seems to be missing for me in the argument is the importance of decentralization and localization in the Chinese reform process. On top of all of the interactions that Wilson maps out, the independent initiative of local officials is key to understanding how some parts of China have done so well with the dynamics Wilson is describing while others have been left behind. This local initiative is what explains the dramatic performance in economic development (in all of the ways Wilson describes) of places like Suzhou and Chengdu, which have both become magnets for foreign investment in recent years. Understanding the complex interaction between national, provincial and local governments in developing these pockets of concentrated investment seems also to be a crucial piece in the puzzle of China's dynamic growth, and in Wilson's account, the “state” in “state-guided globalization” still feels a little bit monolithic to me. But this is a small point in what is otherwise a truly outstanding piece of scholarship.