'Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability'

Start date: Friday, 7 February, 17:00
End date: Friday, 7 February, 18:30
Venue: the Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre

Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability is a new volume of edited essays that homes in on the economic challenges facing authoritarian regimes through a set of comparative case studies that include China and Taiwan. Through these comparative case studies, this volume provides readers with the analytical tools for assessing whether the current round of economic shocks will lead to political instability or even regime change among the world’s autocracies. This volume identifies the duration of economic shocks, the regime’s control over the financial system, and the strength of the ruling party as key variables to explain whether authoritarian regimes would maintain the status quo, adjust their support coalitions, or fall from power after economic shocks.

Victor C. Shih is Ho Miu Lam Chair Associate Professor in China and Pacific Relations at the University of California at San Diego, specializing in China.  He is the author of Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation, published by Cambridge University Press. This is the first book to investigate the linkages between elite politics and banking policies in China.  His second book, Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability, will be published by the University of Michigan Press.  He has published numerous articles in academic and business journals, including The American Political Science Review, The China Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Politics, The Wall Street Journal and The China Business Review, and he often acts as an adviser to the financial community. Dr Shih holds a BA from George Washington University and a doctorate in Government from Harvard University.  He was formerly a principal at the Carlyle Group.