For the first time since Mao, a Chinese leader may serve a life-time tenure. Xi Jinping may well replicate Mao's successful strategy to maintain power. If so, what are the institutional and policy implications for China? Victor C. Shih investigates how leaders of one-party autocracies seek to dominate the elite and achieve true dictatorship, governing without fear of internal challenge or resistance to major policy changes. Through an in-depth look of late-Mao politics informed by thousands of historical documents and data analysis, Coalitions of the Weak uncovers Mao's strategy of replacing seasoned, densely networked senior officials with either politically tainted or inexperienced officials. The book further documents how a decentralized version of this strategy led to two generations of weak leadership in the Chinese Communist Party, creating the conditions for Xi's rapid consolidation of power after 2012.

For the first time since Mao, a Chinese leader may serve a life-time tenure. Xi Jinping may well replicate Mao's successful strategy to maintain power. If so, what are the institutional and policy implications for China? Victor C. Shih investigates how leaders of one-party autocracies seek to dominate the elite and achieve true dictatorship, governing without fear of internal challenge or resistance to major policy changes. Through an in-depth look of late-Mao politics informed by thousands of historical documents and data analysis, Coalitions of the Weak uncovers Mao's strategy of replacing seasoned, densely networked senior officials with either politically tainted or inexperienced officials. The book further documents how a decentralized version of this strategy led to two generations of weak leadership in the Chinese Communist Party, creating the conditions for Xi's rapid consolidation of power after 2012.

The contemporary Chinese financial system encapsulates two possible futures for China's economy. On the one hand, extremely rapid financial deepening accompanied by relatively stable prices are both manifestations of a vigorous growth trajectory that will one day make China the world's largest economy. On the other hand, the colossal store of non-performing loans in the banking sector augurs a troubling future. Factions and Finance in China inquires how elite factional politics has given rise to both of these outcomes since the reform in 1978. The competition between generalists in the Chinese Communist Party and politically engaged technocrats over monetary policies has time and time again prevented inflation from spinning out of control. Shih shows that elite politics has exerted a profound impact on monetary policies and banking institutions in contemporary China.

The contemporary Chinese financial system encapsulates two possible futures for China's economy. On the one hand, extremely rapid financial deepening accompanied by relatively stable prices are both manifestations of a vigorous growth trajectory that will one day make China the world's largest economy. On the other hand, the colossal store of non-performing loans in the banking sector augurs a troubling future. Factions and Finance in China inquires how elite factional politics has given rise to both of these outcomes since the reform in 1978. The competition between generalists in the Chinese Communist Party and politically engaged technocrats over monetary policies has time and time again prevented inflation from spinning out of control. Shih shows that elite politics has exerted a profound impact on monetary policies and banking institutions in contemporary China.