Controlling Political Communication and Civil Society under Xi Jinping

MERICS Paper on China No. 1 - “China’s core executive: leadership styles, structures and processes under Xi Jinping” is an essay collection which offers the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date account of the changes to China’s core executive under Xi Jinping through its analysis of developments in different policy areas. One observation is dominant – China has moved in further in the direction of top-down, autocratic policy making. The author discusses the effects of this on current policymaking and policy outcomes, as well as offering a thought-provoking look into the future. What happens if Xi Jinping fails with his overall reform agenda? What if he succeeds in strengthening the control of the party and in restructuring the Chinese economy? Will China’s IT-backed authoritarianism act as a model and spread to other countries, challenging Western democratic modes of governance? Whatever the future holds, such developments will have implications not only for China, but for all its close economic and political partners.