In recent years, there have been many studies debating whether China, under Xi Jinping, has returned to Mao-style “strongman” politics from collective leadership. Xuezhi Guo's The Politics of the Core Leader in China makes an important addition to this growing literature by presenting the most detailed analysis of Chinese elite politics through five leadership generations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In many ways, this is a continuation of the studies of Chinese elite politics by Tang Tsou, Frederick C. Teiwes, Lowell Dittmer, Joseph Fewsmith, and Cheng Li, among others. While incorporating many insights from these and other scholars, Guo seeks to offer a comprehensive and systematic understanding of CCP elite politics with the “core” leader as the central organizing concept. In this book, Guo often uses the terms “core leader,” “paramount leader,” and “strongman” interchangeably. Yet, following his earlier studies of ideal political leaders in China, Guo also projects...
