Book Talk – Coalitions of the Weak: Elite Politics in China from Mao’s Stratagem to the Rise of Xi

Date:

Monday, September 12, 2022

Time:

12:15 PM

1:45 PM

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Info

The SCRC is hosting Victor Shih, Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations at the University of California, San Diego, for an in-person book discussion of Coalitions of the Weak: Elite Politics in China from Mao’s Stratagem to the Rise of Xi (Cambridge University Press, 2022) in conversation with Prof. Andrew Mertha, Director of the SAIS China Research Center. In his book, Victor Shih examines how one-party autocratic leaders maintain control without resistance to major policy shifts, considering how Xi Jinping may emulate Mao Zedong’s strategy for retaining power. The book utilized thorough research of historical documents and analysis of Mao’s strategies, and further details how this strategy applied to the CCP leadership of 2012 and Xi’s rapid power consolidation.

Event Guests

Victor Shih

Associate Professor; Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations UC San Diego

Victor Shih is an associate professor of political economy and the Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations at UC San Diego. He is an expert on the politics of Chinese banking and fiscal policies and is well-versed in the elite politics of China as well. Shih has published two books, “Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflic and Inflation” (Cambridge Press, 2007) and “Coalitions of the Weak: Elite Politics in China from Mao’s Stratagem to the Rise of Xi” (Cambridge Press, 2022). He is the editor of “Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability: Duration, Institutions and Financial Conditions” published by the University Michigan Press, and has been published in numerous journals including The American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Politics, The China Quarterly, and Party Politics.

Shih’s current work looks at the activities of the Chinese elite and of Chinese defense firms globally. He is also maintaining a biographical database on Chinese elites.

Victor Shih earned his B.A. in East Asian Studies from George Washington University and completed his Ph.D. in Government, from Harvard University in 2003.