{"id":114294,"date":"2010-10-23T10:27:11","date_gmt":"2010-10-23T17:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=114294"},"modified":"2012-03-15T12:01:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T19:01:24","slug":"richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UCLA political scientist Richard Baum<a href=\"http:\/\/fivebooks.com\/interviews\/richard-baum-on-obstacles-political-reform-china\"> is interviewed by Five Books<\/a> about the top books he recommends that look at obstacles to China&#8217;s reform:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nWhat\u2019s your sense of where the whole thing is headed?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m caught between these bookends that I described earlier. Some days I wake up and I think <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&#038;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26enc%3D1%26rh%3Di%253Aaps%252Ck%253Aminxin%2520pei%26field-keywords%3Dminxin%2520pei%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps%26ajr%3D3&#038;tag=chinadigitalt-20&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957\">Minxin Pei<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&#038;l=ur2&#038;o=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/> has got it right, and other days I think <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&#038;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26tag%3Dmozilla-20%26index%3Dblended%26link_code%3Dqs%26field-keywords%3Ddali%2520yang%26sourceid%3DMozilla-search&#038;tag=chinadigitalt-20&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957\">Dali Yang<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&#038;l=ur2&#038;o=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/> has got it right. There\u2019s simply no relevant precedent for what is happening in China. To date there has been no example of a successful, evolutionary post-Leninist transition. There have been a number of radical anti-Leninist overthrows and pro-Leninist backlashes, but nowhere else has there been a sustained effort to graft a modern, developed market economy on to the political framework of a one-party Leninist dictatorship. I\u2019m just not sure it can be done.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to sound too pessimistic. Maybe China does have a shot at emerging from all of this with a coherent political system that is not recognisably democratic in the Western sense. Maybe a kinder, gentler version of neo-Confucian paternalism can soften the iron fist of Leninism without forcing the party-state to relinquish its power monopoly. But I have my doubts that the current, corrupted relationship between political Leninism and bureaucratic capitalism is tenable in the long run.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UCLA political scientist Richard Baum is interviewed by Five Books about the top books he recommends that look at obstacles to China&#8217;s reform: What\u2019s your sense of where the whole thing is headed? I\u2019m caught between these bookends that I described earlier. Some days I wake up and I think Minxin Pei has got it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,100],"tags":[1611,15187,301,2095],"class_list":["post-114294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","tag-book-reviews","tag-five-books","tag-political-reform","tag-richard-baum","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UCLA political scientist Richard Baum is interviewed by Five Books about the top books he recommends that look at obstacles to China&#8217;s reform: What\u2019s your sense of where the whole thing is headed? I\u2019m caught between these bookends that I described earlier. Some days I wake up and I think Minxin Pei has got it [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-23T17:27:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-15T19:01:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\"},\"headline\":\"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-23T17:27:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-15T19:01:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\"},\"wordCount\":229,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1\",\"keywords\":[\"book reviews\",\"five books\",\"political reform\",\"richard baum\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Culture &amp; the Arts\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\",\"name\":\"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-23T17:27:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-15T19:01:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\",\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"description\":\"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China","og_description":"UCLA political scientist Richard Baum is interviewed by Five Books about the top books he recommends that look at obstacles to China&#8217;s reform: What\u2019s your sense of where the whole thing is headed? I\u2019m caught between these bookends that I described earlier. Some days I wake up and I think Minxin Pei has got it [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2010-10-23T17:27:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-03-15T19:01:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1"}],"author":"Sophie Beach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophie Beach","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophie Beach","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663"},"headline":"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China","datePublished":"2010-10-23T17:27:11+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-15T19:01:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/"},"wordCount":229,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1","keywords":["book reviews","five books","political reform","richard baum"],"articleSection":["Culture &amp; the Arts","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/","name":"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1","datePublished":"2010-10-23T17:27:11+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-15T19:01:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=ur2&o=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/10\/richard-baum-obstacles-to-political-reform-in-china\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Richard Baum: Obstacles to Political Reform in China"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663","name":"Sophie Beach","description":"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.","sameAs":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net"],"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}