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

Provincial Power in a Centralizing China

In this week's episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Yeling Tan, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon and Kyle Jaros, an Associate Professor of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. They discuss the critical -- and surprising -- role that provinces play in China's economic policymaking and development. Despite Xi Jinping's centralizing tendencies, provincial governments are as important as ever.

Mar 25, 202142 min

Ideology and Law in Xi Jinping's China

In this episode, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette talks with Rogier Creemers, an Associate Professor in the Law and Governance of China at Leiden University, about the role ideology plays in China's evolving legal and governance system.

Mar 11, 202141 min

Stock Markets with Authoritarian Characteristics

In this week’s episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by John Yasuda, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University to discuss his research on the development of China's financial and equity markets, and how these intersect with Beijing's political priorities.

Feb 25, 202130 min

Grand Steerage

In this week's episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Andrew Polk of Trivium China and Barry Naughton, the So Kwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at UC San Diego, to discuss Beijing's evolving theory and praxis towards managing its economic and financial systems.

Feb 11, 202143 min

The New Realities of Party-State Capitalism in China

On this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette explores the evolving nature of Chinese state capitalism with Meg Rithmire, the F. Warren McFarlan Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.

Jan 28, 202138 min

Does Xi Jinping Face a Coup Threat?

In this episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by Yale University's Dan Mattingly to discuss his new working paper, "How the Party Commands the Gun: Coups, Revolts, and the Military in China." In it, Dan leverages a new dataset of over 10,000 appointments in the PLA to explore how Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping, manage the possibility of coups through personnel appointments.

Jan 21, 202138 min

Statistics and State-Building in Mao's China

How did communist ideology affect state-building efforts in the early PRC? How and why does the current CCP leadership view statistics through the lens of politics? In this episode, Freeman Chair Jude Blanchette is joined by Arunabh Ghosh, an associate professor of Modern Chinese History at Harvard University to discuss his new book, Making it Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the Early People's Republic of China.

Jan 07, 202149 min

The State Advances, The Private Sector Retreats

In this episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette talks to Jörg Wuttke, the president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, to discuss the expanding power and influence of state-owned enterprises in China's economy.

Dec 10, 202031 min

Why the 19th Party Congress Matters

What is the role of the quinquennial Party Congress? And why was the 19th Party Congress in 2017 so important to China's future economic, political, and military trajectory? In this episode, Jude Blanchette is joined by Dan Tobin, a member of the China studies faculty at the National Intelligence University, to explore the "watershed" of the 19th Party Congress. The opinions expressed in the podcast belong solely to the guest and do not in any way represent the views of the United States governm...

Nov 19, 202039 min

Do Intellectuals Matter in Xi's China?

Under the rule of Xi Jinping, the space for intellectual debate has shrunk dramatically, impacting both China's left and right. To explore the realities of intellectual discourse in contemporary China, Jude Blanchette is joined by veteran journalist Chris Buckley of the New York Times.

Nov 05, 202028 min

China's Global Status Anxiety

Is China a developing country or a superpower? This question is at the heart of Pu Xiaoyu's 2019 book, Rebranding China: Contested Status Signaling in the Changing Global Order. In this episode, he joins Jude Blanchette to explore how China's "contradictory posturing" complicates interpretations of its foreign policy.

Oct 22, 202039 min

China's Changing Strategy in Xinjiang

What explains Beijing's extraordinary campaign of repression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region? In this episode, Jude Blanchette is joined by political scientist Sheena Greitens to discuss her 2019 paper, "Counterterrorism and Preventive Repression: China's Changing Strategy in Xinjiang."

Oct 08, 202035 min

What Happens if Xi Jinping Dies in Office?

With the removal of the only term limit on office in March 2018, Xi Jinping stands to rule indefinitely. But what happens if he suddenly dies in office? How will China's political and economic system respond? In this episode, Jude Blanchette is joined by Michigan State University's Erica Frantz to discuss her co-authored paper, "When Dictators Die."

Sep 24, 202031 min

Mobilizing for Development

In this episode of Pekingology, Georgetown University's Kristen Looney joins Jude Blanchette to discuss her new book, Mobilizing for Development: The Modernization of Rural East Asia, which explores, inter alia, how the CCP used political campaigns to drive poverty alleviation efforts in rural China.

Sep 10, 202039 min

Revisiting China’s Social Volcano

In this episode of Pekingology, Harvard University’s Lei Ya-Wen joins Jude Blanchette to discuss her recent paper, "Revisiting China’s Social Volcano: Attitudes toward Inequality and Political Trust in China," which explores the evolving attitudes of Chinese citizens towards inequality and what impact this has on social stability and political trust.

Aug 27, 202025 min

Welfare for Autocrats

In this episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette is joined by Stanford University's Jennifer Pan to discuss her new book, Welfare for Autocrats: How Social Assistance in China Cares for its Rulers, which explores how China's social safety net has morphed to become a tool for enforcing political stability.

Aug 13, 202025 min

Communists Constructing Capitalism

In this first episode of Pekingology, Jude Blanchette invites Julian Gruin to discuss the evolution of China's hybrid economic system and the domineering role of the Communist Party over the financial sector. Julian Gruin is assistant professor of transnational governance at the University of Amsterdam. You can find his book, Communists Constructing Capitalism: State, Market, and the Party in China's Financial Reform, here.

Jul 28, 202038 min