Coalitions of the Weak (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781316516959)

For the first time since Mao, a Chinese leader may serve a life-time tenure. Xi Jinping may well replicate Mao's successful strategy to maintain power. If so, what are the institutional and policy implications for China? Victor C. Shih investigates how leaders of one-party autocracies seek to dominate the elite and achieve true dictatorship, governing without fear of internal challenge or resistance to major policy changes. Through an in-depth look of late-Mao politics informed by thousands of historical documents and data analysis, Coalitions of the Weak uncovers Mao's strategy of replacing seasoned, densely networked senior officials with either politically tainted or inexperienced officials. The book further documents how a decentralized version of this strategy led to two generations of weak leadership in the Chinese Communist Party, creating the conditions for Xi's rapid consolidation of power after 2012.

Author: Victor C. Shih
ISBN-10: 1316516954
ISBN-13: 9781316516959
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/19/2022
Pages: 250
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.18lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2022