Awards

• Winner of Winner of the American Political Science Association's Best Book Award from the Religion and Politics Section.

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9780190698089

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Between violent repression and generous co-optation lies a fascinating gray area of state-society interactions in authoritarian regimes. Nobody has charted these everyday interactions more intimately or impressively than Marie-Eve Reny does in Authoritarian Containment. Whether one wants to learn more about the politics of religion in China specifically, or how dictatorships manage unwelcome pluralism more generally, this book delivers. -Dan Slater, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED), University of Michigan Why do autocratic states actors tolerate informal religious organizations? Why do China's local governments tolerate informal Protestant churches? Based on thorough fieldwork, Marie-Eve Reny proposes an answer both simple and profound. The conditional and bounded toleration of informal religious institutions is a rational choice to contain them and undermine their threat against the regime. This fascinating study makes a major contribution to the studies of religion and politics, and authoritarian regime resilience.> -Juan Wang, McGill University Marie-Eve Reny forces us to rethink the nature of state-society relations in authoritarian regimes. The literature on authoritarianism has typically focused on the ways in which autocratic actors either coopt, or repress autonomous civil society activity. Through an analysis of Chinese state policies towards unregistered Protestant house churches, Reny by contrast shows that authoritarian regimes may also adopt a strategy of containment. Drawing on extensive interviews and observation, Reny offers us a fresh and unparalleled view of the subtle and informal workings of contemporary authoritarian rule. -Lucan Ahmad Way, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto

Marie-Eve Reny forces us to rethink the nature of state-society relations in authoritarian regimes. The literature on authoritarianism has typically focused on the ways in which autocratic actors either coopt, or repress autonomous civil society activity. Through an analysis of Chinese state policies towards unregistered Protestant house churches, Reny by contrast shows that authoritarian regimes may also adopt a strategy of containment. Drawing on extensive interviews and observation, Reny offers us a fresh and unparalleled view of the subtle and informal workings of contemporary authoritarian rule. -Lucan Ahmad Way, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto Why do autocratic states actors tolerate informal religious organizations? Why do China's local governments tolerate informal Protestant churches? Based on thorough fieldwork, Marie-Eve Reny proposes an answer both simple and profound. The conditional and bounded toleration of informal religious institutions is a rational choice to contain them and undermine their threat against the regime. This fascinating study makes a major contribution to the studies of religion and politics, and authoritarian regime resilience.> -Juan Wang, McGill University Between violent repression and generous co-optation lies a fascinating gray area of state-society interactions in authoritarian regimes. Nobody has charted these everyday interactions more intimately or impressively than Marie-Eve Reny does in Authoritarian Containment. Whether one wants to learn more about the politics of religion in China specifically, or how dictatorships manage unwelcome pluralism more generally, this book delivers. -Dan Slater, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED), University of Michigan

Between violent repression and generous co-optation lies a fascinating gray area of state-society interactions in authoritarian regimes. Nobody has charted these everyday interactions more intimately or impressively than Marie-Eve Reny does in Authoritarian Containment. Whether one wants to learn more about the politics of religion in China specifically, or how dictatorships manage unwelcome pluralism more generally, this book delivers. -Dan Slater, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED), University of Michigan Why do autocratic states actors tolerate informal religious organizations? Why do China's local governments tolerate informal Protestant churches? Based on thorough fieldwork, Marie-Eve Reny proposes an answer both simple and profound. The conditional and bounded toleration of informal religious institutions is a rational choice to contain them and undermine their threat against the regime. This fascinating study makes a major contribution to the studies of religion and politics, and authoritarian regime resilience.> -Juan Wang, McGill University Marie-Eve Reny forces us to rethink the nature of state-society relations in authoritarian regimes. The literature on authoritarianism has typically focused on the ways in which autocratic actors either coopt, or repress autonomous civil society activity. Through an analysis of Chinese state policies towards unregistered Protestant house churches, Reny by contrast shows that authoritarian regimes may also adopt a strategy of containment. Drawing on extensive interviews and observation, Reny offers us a fresh and unparalleled view of the subtle and informal workings of contemporary authoritarian rule. -Lucan Ahmad Way, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto

Author Information

Marie-Eve Reny is Assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Université de Montréal since June 2013. Her work primarily centers on the comparative study of authoritarian regimes, with a special interest for China.

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