Pekingology - podcast cover

Pekingology

Center for Strategic and International Studies
China has emerged as one of the 21st century’s most consequential nations, making it more important than ever to understand how the country is governed. True to the name Pekingology, or the study of the political behavior of the People’s Republic of China, this podcast aims to unpack the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party and implications these actions have within China and for U.S.-China relations. Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, is joined by various experts to analyze the activities of the Chinese governing system and how these impact the complex relationships relating to China.

Episodes

What’s Next for US-China Relations? The View from Congress

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to discuss U.S.-China policy and the Select Committee’s work to address the strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Nov 09, 202348 min

The Administrative Foundations of the Chinese Fiscal State

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Wei Cui, professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Colombia to discuss his recent book The Administrative Foundations of the Chinese Fiscal State.

Oct 26, 202334 min

China’s New Navy

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Xiaobing Li, professor of history and Don Betz Endowed Chair in International Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma to discuss his new book China’s New Navy: The Evolution of PLAN from the People’s Revolution to a 21st Century Cold War.

Oct 12, 202336 min

Party of One

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Chun Han Wong, a China reporter for the Wall Street Journal, to discuss his new book Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China’s Superpower Future.

Sep 08, 202345 min

Reshaping Corporate China

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Thomas Gatley, China Strategist at Gavekal Dragonomics, to discuss his recent report “Reshaping Corporate China.”

Aug 25, 202354 min

How Loyal is the PLA?

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Eric Hundman, senior research analyst at BluePath Labs, to discuss his article “Fearing Hardships and Fatigue? Refusals to Serve in China’s Military, 2009-2018,” which was recently published in the Journal of Contemporary China.

Aug 10, 202334 min

How the CCP Finances its Global Ambitions

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the new book Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances Its Global Ambitions.

Jul 06, 202339 min

The National Security Commission Meets

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Gerard Dipippo – Senior Fellow in the Economics Program at CSIS, and Andrew Polk – Co-founder of Trivium China and Senior associate with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. This week they discuss China’s national security and the readout from the recent convening of China’s National Security Commission.

Jun 15, 202341 min

Interpreting the Recent Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission Meeting

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Carl Minzner – Senior Fellow for China Studies at the Council for Foreign Relations and a Professor of Law at Fordham Law School, Gerard Dipippo – Senior Fellow in the Economics Program at CSIS, and Andrew Polk – Cofounder of Trivium China and Senior associate with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. Through the lens of China’s politburo and domestic leadership, they examine how China assesses its economy and reco...

May 25, 202345 min

How Information Flows Impact Decision Making

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Tyler Jost – Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science at Brown University. They discuss how China’s bureaucratic structure and politics impacts leader decision making.

May 11, 202344 min

Economic Dynamics of a Cross-Strait Crisis

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Gerard Dipippo – Senior Fellow in the Economics Program at CSIS, and Andrew Polk - Cofounder of Trivium China and Senior associate with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. They discuss the economic and financial dynamics of a possible Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Apr 13, 202347 min

Outsourcing Repression

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Dr. Lynette H. Ong, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, jointly appointed to the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy’s Asian Institute and also a Faculty Fellow at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. They discuss her recent book Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China.

Mar 30, 202333 min

The Political Logic of Taxation in China

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Dr. Changdong Zhang, Professor in the Department of Political Science at Peking University and Visiting Scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, to discuss his recent book Governing and Ruling: The Political Logic of Taxation in China.

Mar 23, 202341 min

China’s Evolving Political and Economic System

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Kellee Tsai, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science and Chair Professor of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, to discuss her recent articles “Structural Power, Hegemony, and State Capitalism: Limits to China’s Global Economic Power,” published in Politics & Society, and “China’s Party-State Capitalism and International Backlash: From Interdependence to Insecurity,” published i...

Mar 02, 202337 min

Corporate Governance with Chinese Characteristics

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard, Professor at the Department of International Economics, Government and Business at the Copenhagen Business School, to discuss his work on corporate governance in the Chinese state sector, focusing on his paper: “Corporate Governance with Chinese Characteristics: Party Organization in State-owned Enterprises.”

Feb 16, 202335 min

Party Building in China's Institutions

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Daniel Koss, a Research Scholar and Lecturer in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, to discuss his work on Party-building in two recent articles: “Party Building as Institutional Bricolage: Asserting Authority at the Business Frontier & Discipline Inspections,” published in the China Quarterly, and his forthcoming paper, “Discipline Inspections and the Transformation of Party Authority in China’s...

Feb 02, 202354 min

China’s Influence and Investments in Africa

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Margaret Pearson, Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park to discuss her recent research on Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa. Her recent works include “Does Chinese FDI in Africa Inspire Support for a China Model of Development” and “Foreign Direct Investment, Unmet Expectations and the Prospects of ...

Jan 19, 202351 min

Dictatorship and Information

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Martin K. Dimitrov, a professor of political science at Tulane University, to discuss his recent book, ‘Dictatorship and Information’: Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Communist Europe and China.

Jan 05, 202336 min

Consensus-Building Toward a New Top Priority

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Howard Wang, an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation, to discuss his recent paper, ‘Security Is a Prerequisite for Development’: Consensus-Building toward a New Top Priority in the Chinese Communist Party.

Dec 15, 202240 min

The Rise and Fall of the EAST

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Yasheng Huang, the Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management and Faculty Director of Action Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management, to discuss his forthcoming book, The Rise and the Fall of the EAST: Examination, Autocracy, Stability and Technology in Chinese History and Today.

Dec 01, 20221 hr 11 min

Missionary Roots of Nationalism

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Dan Mattingly, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University, to discuss his recent paper, The Missionary Roots of Nationalism: Evidence from China. In addition to the paper, they discuss emerging questions surrounding China’s system, the shift of leadership norms in China, and whether China is beginning a new crisis era under centralized rule.

Nov 10, 20221 hr 1 min

Political Selection of Local Cadres

In this episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by Linan Jia, a political scientist who recently received her PhD from the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, to discuss her recent article, Loyalty and Competence: The Political Selection of Local Cadres in China.

Oct 27, 202232 min

China’s Strategic Opportunity

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Yong Deng, professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy, to discuss his new book, China's Strategic Opportunity: Change and Revisionism in Chinese Foreign Policy.

Oct 13, 202237 min

Chinese Influence through Technical Standardization Power

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Tim Rühlig, Research Fellow in the Technology and Global Affairs Program at the German Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss his recent paper, Chinese Influence through Technical Standardization Power.

Sep 29, 202237 min

Surveillance State

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Josh Chin and Liza Lin, both reporters at the Wall Street Journal, to discuss their new book, Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control.

Sep 16, 202239 min

Capital Mobility and Taxation

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Ling Chen, an assistant professor in political economy at Johns Hopkins SAIS, to discuss her article, Capital Mobility and Taxation: State-Business Collusion in China.

Aug 25, 202226 min

Picking Losers

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by David Bulman, the Jill McGovern and Steven Muller Assistant Professor of China Studies and International Affairs and U.S. Director of the Pacific Community Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), to discuss his co-authored paper, Picking Losers: How Career Incentives Undermine Industrial Policy in Chinese Cities.

Aug 11, 202240 min

Localized Bargaining

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Xiao Ma, an assistant professor of Political Science at Peking University and faculty associate at Peking University Research Center for Contemporary China, to discuss his recent book, Localized Bargaining: The Political Economy of China’s High-Speed Railway Program.

Jul 28, 202237 min

Terror Capitalism

In this week’s episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Darren Byler, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University, to discuss two of his recent books, Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City, and In the Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony.

Jul 14, 202238 min

Rebuilding Authority

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt, departmental lecturer in modern Chinese studies at the University of Oxford, to discuss his recent paper, Rebuilding Authority: The Party's Relationship with Its Grassroots Organizations.

Jun 30, 202236 min