“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

About Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown is professor of Chinese politics and director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He leads the Europe China Research and Advice Network, and was formerly an associate fellow on the Asia programme, Chatham House. He is the author of The Purge of the Inner Mongolian People's Party in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1967-69: A Function of Language, Power and Violence (Brill, 2004); Struggling Giant: China in the 21st Century (Anthem Press, 2007); The Rise of the Dragon: Inward and Outward Investment in China in the Reform Period 1978-2007 (Woodhead, 2008); Friends and Enemies: The Past, Present and Future of the Communist Party of China (Anthem Press, 2009); Ballot Box China: Grassroots Democracy in the Final Major One-Party State (Zed Books, 2011); and Hu Jintao: China's Silent Ruler (World Scientific, 2012). His website is here

Articles by Kerry Brown

China: what we think we know is wrong

Kerry Brown 15 May 2013

There's been too much lazy categorisation. It's time to get microscopic about power in China, says Kerry Brown.

China, the politics of corruption

Kerry Brown 15 March 2013

China's new leader Xi Jinping has gathered more power more quickly than any of his predecessors. The big test now facing him will be to translate his concern about corruption into decisive action - and the early signs are promising, says Kerry Brown.

China, the party-state's test

Kerry Brown 3 November 2012

A new leadership in China will govern a system devoting huge resources to controlling its people and preserving its power. But the needs of the future require different tools and thinking, says Kerry Brown.

Bo Xilai's fall: echo and portent

Kerry Brown 12 October 2012

The disgrace of a powerful party boss is a familiar theme in Chinese communist history. But the awareness of a new Chinese public means that the elite can no longer manage the problem so easily, says Kerry Brown.

China and Japan: a conflict of logics

Kerry Brown 30 August 2012

The territorial dispute between regional powers has the potential to escalate. All the more reason for the Chinese elite to lead rather than follow public opinion, says Kerry Brown.

Chongqing and Bo Xilai: how China works

Kerry Brown 16 August 2012

The downfall of party boss Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai is more than a tale of scandalous intrigue. Their fate reveals the prison of suspicion and mistrust that envelops China’s system of power, says Kerry Brown.

Gan Lulu and China: the human touch

Kerry Brown 12 July 2012

A young model notorious for her provocative dress, revealing videos, and bumptious mother has something to teach China's cynical political world, says Kerry Brown.

China's party, Bo Xilai's legacy

Kerry Brown and David Goodman 5 May 2012

The efforts of China's ruling elite to cope with the scandal that consumed a leading comrade mark a political watershed for the country, say Kerry Brown & David Goodman.

China and Syria: a question of responsibility

Kerry Brown and Cassidy Hazelbaker 2 April 2012

Beijing's refusal to support intervention in Syria in support of the rebels is founded on a mix of strategic judgment and political calculation. But this still leaves it with the challenge of defining a distinctive international role, say Kerry Brown & Cassidy Hazelbaker.

China's elite: a language deficit

Kerry Brown 8 February 2012

Beijing is concerned by Washington's more assertive regional policy in Asia. But here as elsewhere the Chinese leadership's inability to talk to the rest of the world in a natural way blunts its capacity to respond, says Kerry Brown.

The three laws of Chinese politics

Kerry Brown 4 October 2011

China is moving towards a major leadership transition in 2012. A process that looks opaque is governed by clear if unwritten rules, says Kerry Brown.

China’s great transition: the next party

Kerry Brown 29 July 2011

A month that began in China with official celebrations of the communist party’s ninetieth anniversary ends with furious public criticism over its reaction to a fatal train disaster. The contrast symbolises the epic political task the party is facing, says Kerry Brown.

Inner Mongolia: China’s turbulent secret

Kerry Brown 21 June 2011

A protest in another of China’s ethnically mixed regions highlights both Inner Mongolia’s singular history and the Beijing government’s political neglect, says Kerry Brown.

Chinese democracy: the neglected story

Kerry Brown 6 April 2011

The evolution of new forms of governance in rural China is an important if often hidden part of the country’s major transition, says Kerry Brown.

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Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.

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