The Cage of Institutions
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Summary
The Cage of Institutions is a collection of essays on institutional topics written for a general audience, co-authored by Xu Yijun and He Deping, two PhDs working in Party and government organs. The book revolves around three basic questions: What are institutions? What value do they have? What makes an institution scientific? Using a storytelling approach, the authors draw on news reports, historical anecdotes, Chinese and foreign classics, and famous quotations, weaving them into over fifty short essays. They discuss the origins of institutions through the "porridge-sharing story," the balance between institutions and freedom through "the dike and the water," why institutions matter more than dedication through cases of corporate, hotel, and ship management, and the enforcement and rigid constraint of institutions through topics such as "catching tigers and swatting flies," "holding the key minority accountable," and the "broken window effect." The book has five chapters: Lifting the Mysterious Veil of Institutions; The Secret of How Institutions Make Life Better; The Flourishing Forest of Institutions; Institutions Are Not "Scarecrows"; and Mirrors of Institutional Thinking, plus a recommendation preface, a foreword, and an afterword. Written in the context of the 18th National Congress of the CPC emphasizing "placing institutional development in a prominent position" and proposing to "put power in the cage of institutions," the book has been presented by its publisher and several media outlets as a popular reader that explains and promotes institutional thinking, aimed at Party members and cadres, civil servants, and readers in government organs, enterprises, and public institutions.
Editor's review
谈“制度”的书大多两副面孔：要么是术语密布的学术专著，要么是口号式的宣传册。《制度的笼子》走的是第三条路——讲故事。分粥的人怎么分才公平、堤坝与水如何彼此成就、一场大火为什么暴露出执行者缺席，这些切口小、落点实的短章，让抽象的制度原理变得可感可议。全书五章有清晰的递进：先认识制度是什么，再理解制度为什么让生活更美好，然后看制度如何生长与变迁，接着追问制度为何常常执行不下去，最后落到制度思维与道德、人情、技术的关系。每篇文章篇幅短，适合通勤或睡前读完一篇；五十多篇连起来读，又能拼出一套相对完整的制度认知框架。推荐序由《中国历史的教训》作者习骅撰写，另有王东京、张卫平等人推荐。对需要向他人解释“制度有什么用”的读者来说，这本书提供了大量可转述的例子。
Who it's for
A good fit for
- 党政机关、事业单位工作人员，需要理解制度建设与执行逻辑的人
- 企业管理者与HR，想用制度改善组织效率、减少内耗
- 对政治学、公共管理感兴趣，希望从通俗读物入门的大学生
- 需要写材料、做宣讲，想积累制度类案例与表达素材的人
Not a good fit for
- 期待严格学术论证、模型与文献综述的专业研究者
- 只想读纯理论、不接受故事化写法的读者
Reading tips
- 可以按章顺序读，先建立“制度是什么—有什么用—怎么执行”的框架，再回头挑感兴趣的单篇。
- 读到“火炉法则”“鱼缸法则”“破窗效应”等篇目时，不妨对照自己所在单位的一条具体规定，想一想它为何有效或失效。
- 书中的案例多取自2016年前后的新闻与历史典故，阅读时留意时代背景，可与近年制度建设的新进展对照思考。
- 若用于分享或宣讲，建议把每篇的核心观点和故事各摘一句，整理成自己的案例卡片。
About the publisher
CITIC Press
China · Founded in 1988
Founded in 1988 and affiliated with China CITIC Group, CITIC Press focuses on business and economics, social sciences, literature and children's books, with common categories covering social sciences, finance, literature, Eastern philosophy and literary appreciation. Its library holds 91 titles, including Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens trilogy, Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Wu Xiaobo's Thirty Years of Strife: Chinese Enterprises 1978–2008, Nelly Sachs's The Weight of Butterflies: Selected Poems of Nelly Sachs, as well as New Interpretations of the Analects and Chiang Hsun's lectures on Dream of the Red Chamber. Its authors and translators include Lin Junhong, Ba Shusong, Chen Li and Chang Fen-ling. Overall, the press introduces influential works in finance and social sciences while balancing classic translation and local appreciation in literature and Eastern philosophy, combining academic depth with accessible reading.
Contents
- Recommendation Preface: Good Stories Get Twice the Result with Half the Effort (Xi Hua)
- Foreword: Telling Institutional Stories Well
- Chapter 1: Lifting the Mysterious Veil of Institutions
- Citizens Within Institutions
- The Porridge-Sharing Story: The Origins of Institutions
- The Sun Zhigang Incident: The Historicity of Institutions
- The Distance Between You and Obama Is Just One Twitter Account
- From Sea Ships to Hotels: Institutions Matter More Than Dedication
- The Dike and the Water: Institutions as the Measure of Freedom
- The Zero-Degree Ice Room: Institutions Create Efficiency Miracles
- Riverbed and River Water: Classifying Institutions
- Chapter 2: The Secret of How Institutions Make Life Better
- Institutions Drive Economic Growth
- Institutions Guard Society
- Catching "Tigers" and Swatting "Flies"
- "Reins" Produce "Good Horses"
- Reducing Uncertainty
- The Cornerstone of Trust
- The Companion of Order
- Saving Transaction Costs
- Institutions Are Like Channels, Behavior Is Like Water
- Bridges of Cooperation
- Unleashing Human Potential
- Chapter 3: The Flourishing Forest of Institutions
- Nothing Can Be Done Without Rules: Building the Cage of Institutions Well
- Trees and Soil
- New Problems Force Institutional Development
- The Light of Science Shines on Institutional Development
- Comprehensive in Law: A Cage of Institutions That Lets Nothing Slip Through
- A Three-Point Covenant: A Cage of Institutions That Is Simple to Apply
- Institutions Must Strengthen Rigid Constraint
- Avoiding Institutional Conflicts
- Putting Human Nature in the Cage of Institutions
- Blatter's Resignation: Institutional Change Through the Lens of Football Anti-Corruption
- Institutional Change: Small Figures and Big Roles
- Institutional Change Calls for Outstanding Figures
- Path Dependence: The Law of Institutional Inertia
- Chapter 4: Institutions Are Not "Scarecrows"
- "Ziyu Telegraph": The Vitality of Institutions Lies in Enforcement
- Institutional Awareness: The Keystone of the Dome
FAQ
这本书的作者是谁？
作者是徐贻军与何德平，两人均为博士，写作时都在党政机关工作。徐贻军做过教师和企业管理，著有《走进人大》；何德平获西南政法大学法学学士、清华大学法学硕士、中南大学思想政治教育专业博士学位。
这本书是学术专著吗？
不是。它是面向大众的制度话题随笔文集，由五十多篇短文组成，以故事和案例讲道理，学术性不强，更适合作为通俗入门读物。
需要什么基础才能读懂？
基本不需要专业基础。全书语言通俗、篇章短小，具备一般社会常识即可阅读；有公共管理或法学背景的读者会读得更快。
和同类制度读物相比有什么特点？
特点在于“以故事讲制度”：素材取自新闻报道、历史典故、中外名著与经典名句，每篇聚焦一个概念或法则，可单篇阅读，也可连读成体系。
书中目录为何有“孙志刚事件”等篇目？
这些是作者用来阐释制度历史性与制度变迁的案例，属于全书“用故事说理”的写法，并非全书主题所在。
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