Heath, Timothy

Summary
The article discusses parallels between the economic policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping and that of 1930s U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Topics covered include an increase in the prospect for political conflict when the elite’s needs began to diverge from that of the nation, how Xi and Roosevelt adopted options that aimed to realize national goals without antagonizing the elite, and the pursuit of strategies that centralized and widened national government power. Also mentioned are the need for Xi to cultivate popular opinion and military support, his cultivation of the ability to co-opt the leaders of state-owned enterprises, and China’s reluctance to adopt confrontational politics.
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