A review of China’s Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead by Bruce Gilley.
About the Author
Merle Goldman is professor emerita of Chinese history at Boston University, associate of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University, and author of the forthcoming book From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights in China.
Xi Jinping undercut China’s political norms to cement his own power and brand of rule. But in so doing the “Chairman of Everything” has introduced new vulnerabilities for the regime.
In Africa today, investment flows in and civil societies grow stronger, yet many of the continent's leaders continue to behave autocratically, defending their privileges against the spread of law-based rule.
Evidence from social science and history suggests that China is entering a “transition zone” that will threaten its capacity to maintain both authoritarian rule and high levels of economic growth.
