This book takes a fresh look at Chinese political economy at a key inflection point. Facing a more competitive international environment, Chinese reform has shifted from its earlier focus on economic liberalization and political decentralization to a more tightly organized, centralized form of state socialism. The Party-state's vigorous fiscal reaction to the Global Financial Crisis (2008-2009) left the country with a much improved infrastructure and greater sense of national self-assurance. The more monocratic central leadership has redoubled efforts to fight poverty and pollution, push technological innovation, and at the same time rigorously enforce ideological consensus, political loyalty and anticorruption.This has been occurring in an international context of slowing trade and nationalist pushback against 'globalization', prominently including bilateral Chinese-American polarization. While China has been among the staunchest advocates and beneficiaries of globalization, incipient trade war 'decoupling' has spurred movement toward economic and technological self-reliance. Turning inward however vies with a rival impulse toward more vigorous engagement in the world. This is most consequentially represented by the Belt and Road Initiative, driving massive infrastructure construction through Central Asia and the South and Southeast Asian maritime periphery. Despite slowing growth and a large debt overhang, swift recovery from the Covid-19 epidemic leaves China in a relatively strong economic position.

This volume brings together an international team of prominent scholars from a range of disciplines, with the aim of investigating the many facets of the Chinese Communist Party’s 100-year trajectory. It combines a level of historical depth mostly found in single-authored monographs with the thematic and disciplinary breadth of an edited volume. This work stands out for its long-term and multiscale approach, offering complex and nuanced insights, eschewing any Party grand narrative, and unravelling underlying trends and logics, composed of adaption but also contradictions, resistance and sometimes setbacks, that may be overlooked when focusing on the short term. Rather than putting forward an overall argument about the nature of the Party, the many perspectives presented in this volume highlight the complex internal dynamics of the Party, the diversity of its roles in relation to the state, as well as in its interaction with society beyond the state. Our historical approach stresses impermanence beyond the apparent permanence of the Party’s organisation and ideology while also bringing to light the recycling of past practices and strategies. Looking at the Party’s evolution over time shows how its founding structures and objectives have had a long-lasting impact as well as how they have been tweaked and rearranged to adapt to the new economic and social environment the Party contributed to creating.

The Handbook of Constitutional Law in Greater China surveys important issues of constitutional law in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. It synthesizes existing scholarship, debates, and views on important constitutional issues in the four jurisdictions. Written by a range of scholars, it contributes to both national and comparative scholarship on constitutional law in these jurisdictions. The book includes four parts: Part I: History. This part explores the constitutional movement of the Qing dynasty; constitutional projects in modern China; and aspects of the drafting and implementation history of the Hong Kong and Macau Basic Laws Part II: Structure. This part discusses the relationship between the party-state and the Chinese constitutional order; Chinese constitutionalism; constitutional aspects of city development under the SAR concept; constitutional review in Mainland China; a history of Taiwan’s ‘Council of Grand Justices’; and judicial review in both Hong Kong and Macau Part III: Rights, Society, and Economy. This part deals with Hong Kong’s National Security Law and its impact on the ‘one country, two systems model’; social movements and constitutionalism; LGBT rights advocacy; the integration of capitalist regions within socialist China; the constitutional relevance of labour reforms in Mainland China; healthcare rights in both the Mainland and the SARS; and foreign investment under Art. 18 of the PRC Constitution Part IV: Transnational Engagement. This part surveys comparative writings on China’s constitution; the influence of international human rights treaties on China’s constitutional order; the international dimension of Hong Kong’s constitutional order; and the changing role of the ‘overseas judges’ in Hong Kong Exploring both historical and cutting-edge constitutional issues, this reference book is important reading for law researchers, lawyers, graduate students, undergraduates, and practitioners in the field of constitutional law and politics in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Henry Kissinger observed, 'Everybody wants to be a China hawk.' China is a bully. China is Nazi Germany. China commits genocide. China disrupts the 'international rules-based order.' Responding to such uninformed generalization on the nature of China's regime and its lack of human values, the Western Liberal Democracies have created their own 'China Problem' by clinging to Cold War anachronism. The clash of values is not nearly as deep and extensive as is often claimed. Furthermore, the contemporary public discourse on China needs a complete assessment of the values that have emerged in Xi Jinping's China. Xi is regarded as 'red' like Mao. Xi, however, has abandoned Mao's view of class struggle and his notion of a 'rejuvenated China' embraces traditional core principles that Mao bitterly condemned. 'Ren', or 'benevolence', for example, now informs entwined domestic and foreign policy as 'moderate prosperity in all respects'. 'Ren', or 'benevolence' is aligned with 'common security' and 'common development'. The question is whether this is a positive restoration of traditional values that will contribute to domestic development and international peace, or restorationist Middle-Kingdom-ism designed to assert Chinese values worldwide. This book's analysis of Chinese values argues that the current interpretation of the 'China Threat' is predicated in a serious misunderstanding of Chinese values.It is often commented that China is 'the defining geopolitical issues of our time'. This book is an especially timely contribution to the currently limited public policy debate on China as a threat to Western values and the 'international rules-based system'. Correction is long overdue with reference to speculative assumptions that Xi Jinping's regime represents a return to Mao's regime. 'Socialism with Chinese characteristics' has significantly moved on under Xi's leadership. Hyperbole about China has presumed the continuation of Chinese Cold War ideology and has either lightly commented on, or ignored altogether the resurgence of core traditional ideas in Chinese policy formation. This book provides detailed research of 'Xi Jinping Thought' and 'Xi Jinping Diplomatic Thought'. It adopts a widely construed, but serious interdisciplinary, approach towards the 'China Problem', drawing on both the social sciences and humanities. This wide-angled approach includes 'new sinology' in its recent review of 'translated China', synthesizing tradition and culture with the development of modern Chinese ideology, politics and policy formation. The book's significant topicality is presented within an unconventional approach and formatted contents designed to reach out to the biggest circle of general and advanced, China-interested readers in the time of great debate.

By examining the changing political economy in China through detailed studies of the peasantry, workers, middle classes, and the dominant class, this volume reveals the Communist Party of China’s (CCP’s) impact on social change in China between 1978 and 2021. This book explores in depth the CCP’s programme of reform and openness that had a dramatic impact on China’s socio-economic trajectory following the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution. It also goes on to chart the acceptance of Market Socialism, highlighting the resulting emergence of a larger middle class, while also appreciating the profound consequences this created for workers and peasants. Additionally, this volume examines the development of the dominant class which remains a defining feature of China’s political economy and the Party-state. Providing an in-depth analysis of class as understood by the CCP in conjunction with sociological interpretations of socio-economic and socio-political change, this study will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Politics, Chinese History, Asian Politics, and Asian studies.

Today, globalisation has entered a critical phase of slowdown. The asymmetrical US-China relationship that has been the fundamental axis up to now has entered into crisis. The financial imperialism of the dollar proves to be increasingly burdensome and destabilizing. The rise of capitalist China is questioning US imperialist levy. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the looming confrontation, while identifying potential points of no return in the intertwined dynamics of the world market, geopolitical configurations, and class relationships. Neither contender can give up the game. Will there be a de-globalisation? Is a multipolar order realistic? Are we facing a Chinese hegemonic challenge or rather first signs that hint at the potential for systemic disintegration?

This volume zones in on Russia’s relations with the Indo-Pacific region through the lens of theoretical pluralism, presenting alternatives to the mainstream Realist view of Russia as a major power using geopolitical strategies to establish itself. Russia in the Indo-Pacific is an understudied topic that needs a fresh perspective. Contributors to this volume are based across Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the USA, drawing on a range of multinational perspectives and theoretical approaches encompassing realism and liberalism, constructivism and the English school of international relations. Reflecting a trend of internationalization in the Russian study of IR, such theoretical pluralism could facilitate Russian contributions to emerging global IR theory. Russia in the Indo-Pacific contributes towards a more intelligible common discourse in the Indo-Pacific, of interest to students and scholars of Sino-Russian relations, Indo-Pacific international relations, and international relations theory. It will also be of interest to policymakers and general readers following foreign policy and economic trends in the Indo-Pacific who want to better understand Russia's role.

In Making Globalization Happen: The Untold Story of Power, Profits, Privilege, Sripati explains how, when, through which entities, and for what purposes economic globalization was catalyzed and its effects on the Global South in general and South Asia in particular. Based on an innovative international constitutional political economy framework, Sripati examines how the Western classical liberal constitution has shaped international law developments in this post-colonial era given its salience and comprehensive scope. Presenting a comprehensive narrative of economic globalization, Making Globalization Happen accurately and comprehensively links constitutional globalization to the following UN family-created agendas: peacebuilding, conflict prevention, human security, protection of civilians, sustainable development, global war on terrorism, women, peace, and security, poverty reduction or market-oriented development, ending conflict-related sexual violence, and justice (climate, criminal, and transitional). Sripati simultaneously provides the missing constitutional foundation for globalization and the fields that it has spawned: global studies and law and political economy. With these ground-breaking insights, Making Globalization Happen: The Untold Story of Power, Profits, Privilege clearly illustrates who drove constitutional globalization and for whose benefit: the UN family and transnational capitalists. Thus, it rips away the facade of UN family-driven peace, justice, human rights, democracy, and development to expose it as a narrative of power, profit, and privilege for transnational capitalists and debt, death, and despair for the Global South.

Since becoming president of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping has emerged as China's most powerful and popular leader since Deng Xiaoping. The breathtaking economic expansion and military modernization that Xi inherited has convinced him that China can transform into a twenty-first-century superpower. In this collection, leading scholars from the United States, Asia, and Europe examine both the prospects for China's continuing rise and the emergent and unintended consequences posed by China's internal instability and international assertiveness. Contributors examine domestic challenges surrounding slowed economic growth, Xi's anti-corruption campaign, and government efforts to maintain social stability. Essays on foreign policy range from the impact of nationalist pressures on international relations to China’s heavy-handed actions in the South China Sea that challenge regional stability and US-China cooperation. The result is a comprehensive analysis of current policy trends in Xi's China and the implications of these developments for his nation, the United States, and Asia-Pacific.

Fear pervades dictatorial regimes. Citizens fear leaders, the regime's agents fear superiors, and leaders fear the masses. The ubiquity of fear in such regimes gives rise to the "dictator's dilemma," where autocrats do not know the level of opposition they face and cannot effectivelyneutralize domestic threats to their rule. The dilemma has led scholars to believe that autocracies are likely to be short-lived.Yet, some autocracies have found ways to mitigate the dictator's dilemma. As Martin K. Dimitrov shows in Dictatorship and Information, substantial variability exists in the survival of nondemocratic regimes, with single-party polities having the longest average duration. Offering a systematic theoryof the institutional solutions to the dictator's dilemma, Dimitrov argues that single-party autocracies have fostered channels that allow for the confidential vertical transmission of information, while also solving the problems associated with distorted information.To explain how this all works, Dimitrov focuses on communist regimes, which have the longest average lifespan among single-party autocracies and have developed the most sophisticated information-gathering institutions. Communist regimes face a variety of threats, but the main one is the masses.Dimitrov therefore examines the origins, evolution, and internal logic of the information-collection ecosystem established by communist states to monitor popular dissent. Drawing from a rich base of evidence across multiple communist regimes and nearly 100 interviews, Dimitrov reshapes ourunderstanding of how autocrats learn--or fail to learn--about the societies they rule, and how they maintain--or lose--power.