Shoehorning every political development in China today into a black box of the natural behaviour of a Marxist-Leninist authoritarian state is the daily pastime of political commentators and pundits of many stripes and colours around the world. This sophistry, passed off as analysis, doesn’t add much to understanding what is going on in China and why. There’s no doubt that the legacy of ideology and political culture weighs heavily on the decisions of political leaderships everywhere, particularly in China where its antecedents and institutions are so deeply entrenched. But the huge changes and problems that China and ... (full story)