The Post-American World

China’s reemergence as a great power in the last half century “is reshaping the economic and political landscape, but it is also being shaped by the world into which it is rising” (101). In the late 1970s, communist leader Deng Xiaoping tossed aside party doctrine and embraced modernization, with astonishing results. Over 30 years, the size of its economy doubled every eight years. It represents a huge percentage of global manufacturing, practically monopolizing the production of certain goods. It holds trillions in foreign currency reserves, and though it is a long way from surpassing the United States, it sits at a very comfortable second in most major measures of power. China is communist in name only, having clearly accepted free-market principles, although the state does play a much greater role in the management of its otherwise capitalist economy. Furthermore, since the party does not answer to voters, they are at least capable of making necessary if unpopular decisions. However, there has also been a growth in inequality that has triggered a surprisingly large amount of public protest for an authoritarian state.

For China, “unprecedented economic growth has produced unprecedented social change” (110), which often proceeds faster than the country’s ability to manage it.