CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Wieprecht, Liese-Lotte |
|---|---|
| Title | Reigning in the Titans: Alibaba and the Shifting Nature of State Capitalism in Modern China |
| Summary | This thesis contributes to the broader debate on state capitalism by exploring the complex and often ambiguous nature of China's political economy. China’s model of state capitalism has inspired numerous theories and attempts to define the unique relationship between the state and the private sector. Using a case study approach, this thesis investigates the paradox of Alibaba's rise to power within China's state-controlled economy and examines how a private company could achieve such signif-icant growth and influence. It finds that platform companies in China are not merely subjects of state control, but have their own agency and can actively pursue profit-driven goals by skillfully cooperating and negotiating with the state. This is possible because the Chinese state is not monolithic, but consists of various hierarchical levels, each with different motivations and interests, and each constantly vying for power and influence. Although the recent state interventions in the platform economy (the so-called tech crackdown) have been surprisingly severe, they exemplify the volatile nature of Chinese state capitalism and can be seen as part of a historical process of cycles between decentralized market liberalization and centralized state intervention. |
| Supervisor | Fetzer, Thomas |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/wieprecht_liese.pdf |
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