Autocracy 2.0: How China’s Rise Reinvented Tyranny

Great power competition requires countries to be technological leaders, but a large body of literature holds that autocracies, which suppress creativity and information flows, stifle innovation. Many observers of China’s rise thus argued that it would be unable to compete technologically with the United States. This book challenges this view. Drawing on metrics of innovation, I show that China has become a global innovation leader. I argue that China and other “smart authoritarians” have adapted their tools of control in order to better compete with free societies in today’s globalized information age. The evolution of Autocracy 2.0 suggests that China – and the countries that emulate its smart authoritarian model – will be far more competitive than many scholars expect: which has dramatic implications for the balance of power, the future of international order, and the global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism.