Jennifer Pan's Welfare for Autocrats contributes to a growing body of book-length discussions of the minimum livelihood guarantee system (frequently shortened to dibao) – a minimum income system that first emerged in China's cities in the 1990s to top up household incomes – and how the Chinese state manages internal stability. This leads to what Pan calls repressive assistance. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of both the development and use of dibao by the state, as well as how concerns regarding political, social and economic stability that drive policy in one area can shape the way programmes function in another area. The central argument is that dibao demonstrates this seepage of social stability concerns from public security into social welfare, leading to what Pan refers to as repressive assistance. The book addresses this clearly through a discussion covering the premise of the idea of seepage and the policy of dibao itself, how the local state responds to initial inquiries for support, how the state distributes the (limited) resources associated with dibao, and finally how these efforts are experienced by both officials and the communities they administer.
Pan makes a convincing case regarding dibao's use as a means to maintain social order through a mixture of innovative and more traditional methods. Pan argues the causal relationship is not between economic hardship and a response at the local level but, rather, between the threat of social instability and the strength or type of response. This response will involve dibao but also other state interventions such as home visits. This addresses a significant issue in the literature on dibao which considers the policy as a tool to alleviate poverty and then argues that local variation and inconsistency is a major problem in its operation. Pan's work shows that the concern regarding social stability overrides the economic consideration of who gets what kind of support and helps to explain why certain households might get help when those in similar economic distress are ignored or actively excluded from the support dibao provides. What is notable is the finding that those listed as public security concerns, such as ex-prisoners, are specifically targeted for dibao support. Another significant finding is not only that this makes little difference in terms of targeted groups’ likelihood to (re-)offend, but also that this support does have negative consequences for those who administer the programme, as it leads to increased complaints from the community.
The ideas of seepage and repressive assistance are both interesting contributions, and the book might have benefited from discussing these in more substantial detail together rather than spread out through the text. Seepage is an intriguing idea and it would have been interesting to see more discussion of the switch highlighted by Pan in the 2000s and what explains this. Dibao was, from its first emergence in the early 1990s through to the 2000s and beyond, a programme that has been used to ensure stability. The language of officials highlighted in Pan's analysis is similar to that of officials justifying dibao in the 1990s. The way in which the Chinese state becomes concerned about different groups over time and how it utilizes different policies to facilitate control over these groups is the main contribution in this regard and fits with observations from the existing literature and from the field. Another way that Pan's work might help us understand the development of dibao is the question of why China implemented a rural version of dibao in 2007. While, on its own, the rural dibao does not really make sense, the argument presented here does provide a convincing reason for pushing through additional social assistance measures in China's countryside. The key point is that through repressive assistance the provision of material benefits is not the most important aspect as far as the state is concerned; rather, it is the increased opportunities for interactions between agents of the state and the targeted population which matter and which are facilitated by dibao.
The book is an interesting mix of innovative and more traditional methodological approaches and serves as a good example of how researchers might go about analysing complex problems and sensitives issues in China. The openness with which Pan discusses her methods, the challenges therein and how she came across the topic is to be applauded. Too often texts skirt round the discussion of methods and the specific challenges that studying a country like China present. Pan makes observations, for instance regarding the temporary nature of the internet or stumbling across a new topic, which might seem obvious to those of us who have experienced a government website revamp or the moment where a more interesting research question emerges in the field. These insights as well as the use of innovative approaches to particular questions, for example in chapters three and six on “Reacting at the threat of disorder” and “Triggering backlash” respectively, will be useful and encouraging to researchers new to the field. Those of us with more experience might consider learning a bit from such approaches as well.
