The paradox of dictatorship is that dictatorships do well when they do not have a genuine dictator.

Minxin Pei

In this episode of Democracy Paradox, Justin Kempf speaks with China scholar Minxin Pei about his book The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism and his argument that China under Xi Jinping has shifted from authoritarianism back toward totalitarianism. They explore the missed opportunities for political reform in the 1980s, the party’s post-Tiananmen survival strategy, and how Xi consolidated power through purges, ideological revival, and expanded social control. The conversation also reflects on what China’s trajectory reveals about the strengths – and fragility – of democracy itself.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

Introduction - 0:20
China's Missed Opening - 4:22
The Return of Control - 21:03
The Making of a Strongman 38:16
Lessons for Democracy - 50:41

Links

Learn more about Minxin Pei.

Learn more about his new book The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism.

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

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Minxin Pei Warns China Has Descended into Totalitarianism