Fewsmith Publishes Journal Article on Authoritarian Resilience
Joseph Fewsmith, Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent journal article on the conventional wisdom surrounding the resilience of authoritarian regimes.
Fewsmith’s article, entitled “Authoritarian Resilience Revisited,” was published in the Journal of Contemporary China on September 23, 2018.
From the abstract of the article:
The conventional wisdom in the period following Tiananmen was that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would fall victim to domestic pressures and international economic forces and follow the Soviet Union and other socialist systems onto the ‘dustbin of history.’ But it did not happen. In 2003, Andrew Nathan offered an explanation. The factionalism of the past was weakening in the face of growing professionalism and functional specialization. Political succession was increasingly bound by widely accepted norms, and the regime, though still authoritarian, was the beneficiary of feedback mechanisms that allowed a degree of political participation and provided information on contentious issues. In short, institutions were being created that strengthened the regime and extended its longevity.
Fewsmith is Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Boston University. He is the author or editor of eight books, including, most recently, The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China (January 2013). Fewsmith travels to China regularly and is active in the Association for Asian Studies and the American Political Science Association.