China 21

China's Political Order - Francis Fukuyama & Barry Naughton

Episode Summary

Francis Fukuyama and Barry Naughton trace the origins of the Chinese state, its historic economic modernization, and how the current Xi Jinping era is challenging assumptions and theories about political order and decay. They also discussed the relationship between political freedom and technological innovation and roles of China and US in global leadership.

Episode Notes

Professors Fukuyama and Naughton trace the origins of the Chinese state, its historic economic modernization, and how the current Xi Jinping era is challenging assumptions and theories about political order and decay. They also discussed the relationship between political freedom and technological innovation and roles of China and US in global leadership.

Dr. Francis Fukuyama is professor of political science at Stanford University, where he directs the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Dr. Fukuyama is the author of the landmark book on international relations, The End of History and the Last Man. His recent work is equally grand in scale and influence, titled Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy.

Dr. Fukuyama delivered the 2018 Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture on China at UC San Diego, in which he presented his latest research on China's infrastructure investment as a development strategy domestically and the basis for its ambitious Belt-and-Road initiative abroad.

Dr. Barry Naughton is the Sokwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at the School of Global Policy & Strategy. As one of the world's most highly respected economists, he is an authority on the Chinese economy with an emphasis on issues relating to industry, trade, finance and China's transition to a market economy. Dr. Naughton has written the authoritative textbook "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth," and has most recently edited the volume titled "State Capitalism, Institutional Adaptation, and the Chinese Miracle."

This episode was recorded at UC San Diego

Host & Editor: Samuel Tsoi
Production Support: Mike Fausner, Anthony King, Lei Guang, Susan Shirk, Amy Robinson, Michelle Fredricks
Music: Dave Liang/Shanghai Restoration Project