Wen-Hsuan Tsai – författare

A non-democratic regime must solve two problems in order to survive: how to share power within the political elite and how to control society. A Tight Grip examines the strategies that China's current, and longest-serving, head of state has used to address these questions and bolster his leadership of the world's second-most populous country. Wen-Hsuan Tsai explores the president's method of concentrating decision-making power in his own hands through political dominance and ideological control while still creating scope for local-level political advancement. As a result, he has expanded the reach of social control while reducing its cost to the regime. A Tight Grip is an in-depth exploration of the president's innovative use of specific institutional and policy instruments to develop a restricted power-sharing model and maintain social order. This clear-eyed assessment reveals not only the pros and cons of particular regulations but also their implications for China's political development.

This book discusses the mishu (staff member, secretary) system and the operation of the Chinese Communist Party between 1921 and 2022, focusing on the system’s impact on high-level politics and decision-making during four key periods. Starting with the Revolutionary War (1921–1945), it moves to the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1950–1966), the period of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), and finally the period of reform and opening up, bringing the history to the present day (1976–2022). This is the first systematic analysis of the mishu system, offering new insights on the history of the CCP and modern China.