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Political Science

The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism

A provocative book that demystifies China鈥檚 great democratic leap backward under Xi Jinping, revealing why the country鈥檚 embrace of capitalism has given rise to hard authoritarianism, mass surveillance, and one-man rule instead of democracy as many in the West had hoped

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ISBN:
Published:
Dec 2, 2025
Copyright:
2026
Illus:
23 tables.
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When China embarked on its transformative journey of modernization in 1979, many believed the country鈥檚 turn toward capitalism would put its totalitarian past to rest and mark the birth of a democratic, open society. Instead, China reverted to a neo-totalitarian state, one backed by one of the fastest-growing, most formidable economies on earth. The Broken China Dream pulls back the curtain on the regime of strongman Xi Jinping, revealing why the reforms of the post-Mao era have been reversed on nearly every front鈥攁nd why the world failed to see it coming.

Exposing the truth behind China鈥檚 economic ascendency after the Cultural Revolution, Minxin Pei shows how, following Mao鈥檚 death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping strategically deployed the tools of capitalism to preserve the Chinese Communist Party. Deng kept intact the institutional foundations of totalitarianism even as he unleashed private entrepreneurship and courted foreign investment, giving China鈥檚 one-party state control of a vast repressive apparatus and the most critical sectors of the economy. Only a fragile balance of power among dueling factions prevented the rise of a totalitarian leader in the two decades after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989鈥攂ut this temporary equilibrium collapsed.

Essential to understanding today鈥檚 China, this meticulously researched book is a sobering account of why the country鈥檚 reformers and institutions could not stop a shrewd and ruthless politician like Xi from resurrecting dormant totalitarian practices that, for the foreseeable future, have spelled the end of the dream of a free and prosperous China.