Following the Leader: Ruling China, from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping - Hardcover

Lampton, David M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520281217 ISBN 13: 9780520281219

Publisher: University of California Press, 2014

Synopsis

With unprecedented access to Chinese leaders at all levels of the party and government, best-selling author David Lampton tells the insider story of China's political elite from their own perspectives. Based on over five hundred interviews, Following the Leader offers a rare glimpse into how the attitudes and ideas of those at the very top have evolved over the past four decades. Here China's rulers explain their strategies and ideas for moving the nation forward, share their reflections on matters of leadership and policy, and discuss the challenges that keep them awake at night. We learn of a China where party rulers have become progressively less dominant, bureaucracy and society have become more fragmented, and the people are becoming more powerful. As the Chinese Communist Party installs its new president, Xi Jinping, for a ten-year term, questions abound. How will the country move forward as its explosive rate of economic growth begins to slow? How does it plan to deal with international calls for human rights reform and cope with an aging and increasingly polarized population? In this unprecedented book we learn for the first time how China's leaders see the nation's political future, as well as about its strategic influence on the world at large.

About this title

About the Author

David M. Lampton is Professor of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Director of China Studies at SAIS. Former President of the National Committee on United States--China Relations, he was the inaugural winner of the Scalapino Prize (2010). His books include The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds (2008), Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-China Relations, 1989--2000 (2001), and The Making of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in the Era of Reform (2001).

From the Inside Flap

This book is a gift for those seeking to understand in all of its complexities the preeminent issue of our times the rise of China and the implications for the rest of us. With data-rich analysis, it captures the sweeping political, economic, and social changes of China s last forty years and, without being alarmist, delineates persuasively the things that both we and the Chinese should genuinely worry about. It is an important guide to both scholars and policy makers.
John McLaughlin, Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at Johns Hopkins University and former deputy director of the CIA

The best book on contemporary China today, Following the Leader is a true insider s account of how the Chinese think about the world and how the world should think about China. A compelling and engaging read for first-time China travelers, seasoned China watchers, and anyone else interested in understanding the emergence of this global power.
Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520281217
• ISBN 13: 9780520281219
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312