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If you only read the title of this book and had to guess what it is about, you would probably assume this book is about how China is a fragile superpower due its unstable political system and that it is a house of cards just waiting to collapse.
As of matter of fact, this book is more about the Communist Party's policies and methods of how to remain in power. In short, according to Shirk, these are the three golden rules which the Communist Party follows in order to remain in power: (i) avoid any public unrest (regardless of the reason for the demonstrations) which can escalate and lead to the collapse of the regime (ii) keep the army on the party's side. An important and obvious rule of thumb considering what just happened to Mubarak, former president of Egypt, once the army stopped supporting his regime. (iii) Avoid any disagreement among the top leaders. Clearly, any disagreement among the top leaders can be viewed as weakness and be exploited by the crowds.
In general, Shirk provides an interesting overview to what concerns the top leaders of the Communist Party and what challenges they're facing. I found the chapters about the tense China-Japan and China-Taiwan relationships to be especially interesting and revealing.
The main drawback of this book is that it doesn't provide any substantiation to support her argument that the collapse of the regime will actually halt the rise of China. Does it necessarily mean that China will not grow to be a superpower in the event the Communist Party loses control of the country? Not necessarily. Obviously, if such an event occurs, China will suffer from severe implications (civil unrest, economic slowdown, etc.) in the short-run. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that such an event will prevent China from obtaining superpower status over the long-run.
Nonetheless, this book is highly informative and provides insights into how the Chinese government manages its domestic and foreign policies.
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (August 15, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0195373197
- ISBN-13: 978-0195373196
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 51 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#809,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #448 in Political Leadership
- #646 in Nationalism (Books)
- #838 in International Diplomacy (Books)
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