This chapter reviews essential works on anarchism and extralegal (private) governance institutions, suggesting that there is a lack of high-quality research focusing on the operation of extralegal governance institutions in authoritarian China’s illegal markets. It then discusses the puzzles this book aims to investigate and the ways in which the Chinese state facilitates the growth of illegal markets. It also outlines the objectives of the book, summarizes the key contributions it makes to the existing literature, and sets out a road map for the book.

This chapter first summarizes two essential achievements of this book. Empirically, our research addresses significant challenges associated with collecting empirical data on sensitive topics in authoritarian China and offers a comprehensive picture of extralegal governance institutions in China’s illegal markets. Theoretically, our research adopts and develops a socio-economic analytical approach, integrating new institutional economics with sociology to study extralegal governance institutions and illegal markets. This chapter also offers suggestions for future research, including employing a multidisciplinary approach, adopting the methods of comparative institutional analysis, and exploring the dynamic interaction between formal and extralegal institutions. It concludes with a number of policy implications for regulating illegal markets.