Xi Jinping and the End of Chinese Exceptionalism

Abstract

China watchers have long speculated whether Beijing is developing a genuinely new, exceptionally dynamic form of authoritarian governance. Recent developments suggest, however, that the Communist leadership under Xi Jinping is reverting to an orthodox form of personalist authoritarianism. This process accelerated in the run-up to the Nineteenth Communist Party Congress in 2017 and in its aftermath. The article investigates the extent to which Xi has eliminated key political norms and quasi-institutions that previously distinguished the consensus-driven collective leadership of the “China model” and allowed for a working power balance between different intra-Party factions, an orderly political succession process, and a relative predictability of intra-Party dynamics. It assesses the implications of this return to a personalist form of authoritarianism for China’s political and economic development.