A World Safe for Autocracy? China’s Rise and The Future of Global Politics

• In Event: Power Shifts: Strategies, Responses, and Consequences for International Politics

Abstract

How does China’s domestic governance shape its foreign policy ambitions and international influence? China is simultaneously a revisionist, reformer, innovator, and defender of the status quo—insisting rigidly on issues that are central to its domestic survival, while showing flexibility on issues that are more peripheral. To understand this variation, this paper develops a framework to illuminate China's approach to global governance, homeland issues including Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the spread of authoritarian practices and democratic corrosion.

Author

• Jessica Chen Weiss, Cornell University