China’s Future

Abstract

David Shambaugh’s clearly organized and engagingly written volume accomplishes two important tasks. First, it fills a significant gap in the literature for general readers in foreign and public affairs by providing a cogent (172 pages of text plus notes) yet comprehensive overview of recent developments in China’s economy, society, politics and foreign affairs that identifies and assesses the key elements determining China’s future importance. Second, it allows this leading international China specialist to fully explain his views on how and why China is likely to develop in the future. Very few China specialists have the depth and breadth of experience to successfully write such a volume. The book builds on Shambaugh’s four decades of scholarly engagement with China as leader of various international collaborations and publications, journal editor, and author of major books dealing with the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese military, and Chinese foreign relations. It coincides with the publication of the 550-page multidimensional guide to contemporary China, The China Reader: Rising Power (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), which he edited.