ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the vaunted reforms of party and state structures really were designed to enhance Deng's personal power. It offers two new theoretical models that connect leadership configurations to policy cycles. First, leadership configurations fall along two axes: cleavage versus solidarity and collegiality versus hierarchy. Second, economic cycles correlate to leadership styles: Economic booms favor the interests of reformminded leaders and encourage greater toleration of mass mobilization, periods of retrenchment play into the hands of conservatives, and mass activism is treated more severely in the bust phase of a cycle. Systemic transformation and the development of civil society are interrelated but distinct. Conversely, the rise of civil society and of more autonomous social groups is often seen as a precondition for a transition from authoritarianism to democracy, but by itself it does not guarantee the dismantling of existing authoritarian political structures.
