The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State Reprint Edition
by Elizabeth C. Economy (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 268 ratings
In The Third Revolution, eminent China scholar Elizabeth C. Economy provides an incisive look at the transformative changes underway in China today. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has unleashed a powerful set of political and economic reforms: the centralization of power under Xi, himself, the
expansion of the Communist Party's role in Chinese political, social, and economic life, and the construction of a virtual wall of regulations to control more closely the exchange of ideas and capital between China and the outside world. Beyond its borders, Beijing has recast itself as a great
power, seeking to reclaim its past glory and to create a system of international norms that better serves its more ambitious geostrategic objectives. In so doing, the Chinese leadership is reversing the trends toward greater political and economic opening, as well as the low-profile foreign policy,
that had been put in motion by Deng Xiaoping's "Second Revolution" thirty years earlier.
Through a wide-ranging exploration of Xi Jinping's top political, economic and foreign policy priorities-fighting corruption, managing the Internet, reforming the state-owned enterprise sector, improving the country's innovation capacity, enhancing air quality, and elevating China's presence on the
global stage-Economy identifies the tensions, shortcomings, and successes of Xi's reform efforts over the course of his first five years in office. She also assesses their implications for the rest of the world, and provides recommendations for how the United States and others should navigate their
relationship with this vast nation in the coming years.
Editorial Reviews
Review
One of Politico's "Ten Names That Matter on China Policy"
"How should observers, especially those in Washington, assess Xi's China? In The Third Revolution, Elizabeth Economy offers a nuanced, persuasive answer: while China's heft in world affairs is growing rapidly, so too are the contradictions inherent in the attempt of an authoritarian country to shape
what remains a predominantly liberal world order." -- Global Asia
"Economy . . . offers an engaging look at how areas such as internet regulation, reform of state-owned enterprises, and foreign policy are evolving under Xi's leadership." -- Reuters Breakingviews
"To understand and navigate China in the coming years, this is the book to read. At the heart of doing business in this opaque and contradictory country is understanding Xi Jinping, a masterful and complex politician. Elizabeth Economy's exceptionally clear account gives you the tools to do just
that." -- Fred P. Hochberg, Former Chairman and President, Export-Import Bank of the United States
"The Third Revolution is enormously valuable for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which China is changing (and not changing) under Xi's leadership, and how the U.S. should best approach its relationship with China. Essential." -- Robert E. Rubin, Former Secretary of the Treasury
"The one book that tells you all you need to know about how China has changed under Xi Jinping. A clear-eyed, richly researched, and engaging account by one of America's most knowledgeable China experts." -- Susan L. Shirk, University of California, San Diego
"Timely and sobering analysis of the profound--and disturbing--political change that has occurred since the rise of Xi Jinping. This is by far the most insightful and illuminating study of China's new political landscape, and should be required reading for those concerned with China's future under
strongman rule." -- Minxin Pei, Author, China's Crony Capitalism
"Leading China expert Elizabeth Economy provides a clear-eyed net assessment of China under Xi Jinping: its global ambitions, domestic limitations, and the paradox of its external hubris and internal insecurities. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, The Third Revolution should become
staple reading for all who want to understand China today and where it is headed in the future. The findings are both illuminating and disturbing."
-- David Shambaugh, George Washington University and author of China Goes Global
"Americans are slowly realizing that they live in a bipolar world with China, a nation that is incontrovertibly rising despite the destabilizing effects of serial self-reinvention. The advent of the latest progenitor of rejuvenation, Xi Jinping, has raised a host of vexing questions, but Economy's
wonderfully lucid and well-researched book fills in many of the blanks regarding Xi's strengths and weaknesses." -- Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations
"For the first time in modern history, we have a communist country poised to be the biggest and most important driver of the global free market. That's astonishing. And we still don't know what makes China's political leadership and Xi Jinping in particular tick. If that freaks you out (and it
should), Liz Economy's book is the place to start." -- Ian Bremmer, President and Founder, Eurasia Group
"The timing of The Third Revolution is impeccable. Economy convincingly demonstrates how Beijing has used its heft to influence technological and political standards." - The Financial Times
"A work of cool-headed analysis." - Foreign Affairs
"The must-read book of 2018. . . . Economy's book traces Xi's influence and ambitions through an exhaustive reading of his speeches as well as an astute knowledge of Chinese politics and policy. It should be required reading not just for China-watchers but for anyone interested in U.S.-China
relations and the future of world order." - Bloomberg
About the Author
Elizabeth C. Economy is the C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. An expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, her most recent book, with Michael Levi, is By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World.
Product details
Publisher : Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (September 2, 2019)
Language : English
Paperback : 368 pages
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Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States
Carol Paik
5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of the best books I have read on China in the past ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2018
This is one of the best books I have read on China in the past few years. It brought a degree of clarity to the enormously complex political and economic changes underway in China today that I have not encountered in other books. The author argues convincingly that Xi Jinping’s China is significantly different from that of Deng Xiaoping or Mao Zedong ( the second and first revolutions) and poses a new type of challenge for the United States. She points to four trends in particular as distinguishing Xi China from that of his predecessors: the extraordinary consolidation of power in Xi's own hands, the growing role of the Communist Party in Chinese society and economy, the increasing ability of the Party to control the amount of information and capital that comes into China from the outside world, and a much more assertive Chinese foreign policy. She grounds her argument in interesting and novel insights from both interviews with Chinese officials and businesspeople, as well as fascinating material from Chinese history. (For example, she traces the role of censorship and anti-corruption campaigns not only back to Mao’s China but also through different periods of Imperial China.) There is also a section on what the United States should do about China, which I found quite helpful given all of the tensions in the U.S.-China relationship today. Overall, I found the book to be smart, nuanced, and engaging. Well worth the time and money.
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59 people found this helpful
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Rick Blaine
3.0 out of 5 stars Academic Research
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2019
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I was looking for a readable book about China today and its political goals and motivation for the future. This book is written by a Chinese scholar who punctuates many of her sentences with Chinese language and characters. I suppose this is to enhance her credentials as an academic and to prove her scholarly qualifications but I found it distracting. The book is not written in a journalistic or popular style like you might find in the pages of the Wall Street Journal or the N.Y. Times. It reads like a PhD dissertation and as such does not well serve to educate newcomers to the subject. I found it a hard slog and abandoned the book after 120 pages. I probably should have chosen a book by Gordon Chang if I wanted readability. This is too bad because the author appears to be well qualified in her subject.
22 people found this helpful
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Pseudo D
4.0 out of 5 stars Turnaround
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
For me this was a followup to Henry Kissinger because he only went up to around 2010 when Obama was starting and Hu Xintao was the ruler of China. I was unfamiliar with Elizabeth Economy, but she works with Richard Haass, a frequent talking head from the establishment, and Max Boot, a hawkish neocon who in 2002 embraced the term neocon at a time when everybody was nitpicking over the exact meaning of neocon. He accepted the general meaning of an all around worldwide hawk. As Ted Cruz once said, invade every country on earth (he wasn't advocating it), or as Michael Ledeen and Jonah Goldberg said, pick some country and throw them at the wall every decade or so. Boot is a harsh Trump critic along with Frum and Kristol, and like Frum and Jen Rubin I really don't know how they match the term conservative at all, but whatever. But I'm getting off topic. The point is, Economy is a younger lady but she works with some established figures.
The main point of the book is that Xi Jinping is the most powerful leader since Chairman Mao. That's saying something, considering Deng Xiaoping shaped the direction for decades and Jiang Xemin was a formidable figure in his own right, as Kissinger observed. The "third revolution" involves some of the Hu era but really picked up under the current leadership. Despite the Tienanmen Square tragedy, there was a general trend of economic reforms, that many hoped would be a catalyst for political and human rights reforms. This
has emphatically gone in the opposite direction. It would be interesting to tackle the history of Russia since the Soviet Union and how there may be parallels.
The various chapters chronicle the crackdown on political opposition, including an increased control over the internet. This has provoked resistance at home and abroad, including among the entrepreneurs who have made many innovations in the technological economy. There is also a military buildup, as we've recently seen in the news. Kissinger noted that military power wasn't the main factor in the rise, but it has been a result that has developed a lot in the past decade. The militarism goes with nationalist sentiment
of course, and the reversal of various financial reforms from the Deng and Jiang eras, with an increased tendency toward government owned businesses. All these things have affected China's ability to relate to the international liberal order, which it didn't participate in creating. The liberal order itself is in crisis,
with the rise of various forms of populism and nationalism in different regions.
Elizabeth Economy, perhaps for the purpose of influence and cooperation, takes a reasonable approach to the Trump administration (the colleagues in the establishment are talking heads who generally criticize Donald). The hawkish stance that developed in the early to mid part of this decade seems confirmed by what was going on with Xi and the third revolution. I use hawkish not in the sense of
interventionism, but his attitude toward trade and other aspects of the relationship. Economy
suggests that measures of retaliation, economic and other, are necessary in this new era of the relationship between China and the US.
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25 people found this helpful
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Kelly Wright
3.0 out of 5 stars Standard exposition, nothing new
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
One of hundreds of books that explain the current US-China state of affairs. No insight into what motivates Xi, no examination of the ‘core socialist values’ that he follows, or any revelations other than the standard narratives found daily in the media. Disappointing for that reason, the book is nevertheless well-researched for its content and overall well-written.
43 people found this helpful
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Fellow Traveler
5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the most important book written on China in the era of Xi Jinping
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2019
Verified Purchase
Trying to figure out why Chinese grow is slowing? Wondering about the causes of the US “trade war” against China? Why so many Chinese students who graduate from US universities are loath to return back to the mainland? Elizabeth Economy has written the most informative, readable and fact-packed book yet on China since the rise of Xi Jinping in 2012. I have given to book as a gift to a number of friends. It is excellent and will have a long shelf life, since Xi has gotten himself enshrined indefinitely as the country’s “paramount leader.”
12 people found this helpful
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Brian Lait
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading to understand China today
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2020
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I am an avid follower of China, having lived and worked in Hong Kong (with many visits to China) for 5 years, including the time Thatcher signed the agreement to hand HK back to China.
Economy has written a well researched book on the way China ticked, and the way it seems it will tick under the horrific Xi Jinping.
The book was published in 2018, so covers Trump's attempts at dealing (not very well) with Xi. If Biden gets elected in a few months I sincerely hope he handles China with care, but with a very, very firm hand.
Similarly, leaders in other so-called western world countries, not least the ignorant Boris Johnson, who should be shot for allowing the likes of Huawei anywhere near anything of the slightest security risk for the UK and allies.
I have absolutely no liking for Xi at all, and the treatment by China of the Uyghurs and Hong Kongers simply sets out how, in my opinion, Xi wants anyone to be treated who does not do as he says. What is now happening in HK was very predictable.
I particularly like the last two chapters of the book: "The lion awakens" and "The road forward". This last chapter should be read by both Biden and Trump and all those in their camps.
Thank you Elizabeth Economy for an excellent and educational read.
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3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
interesting read
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Neil
5.0 out of 5 stars The Real China--not so dreamy !
Reviewed in Canada on January 10, 2019
Verified Purchase
Excellent coverage of the weaknesses of China and some of its strengths. It shows that under Xi China is headed down the wrong path becoming Maoist and less prosperous with a non functional Belt and Road dream. Oh for a fourth revolution to change China to a real republic like Taiwan. Then the world will be a happier place.
One person found this helpful
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