The Beijing Consensus

February 8, 2010
Halper cogently rejects the “conventional wisdom” that suggests America’s relationship with China is “on track” in this lucid, probing text. Moving beyond approaches to China that focus on its burgeoning economic dominance, the book—in the vein of Martin Jacques’s recent When China Rules the World
—underscores the political and cultural challenge that a rising China presents. Halper (coauthor of America Alone
), a fellow at the University of Cambridge, contends that there is little possibility of a genuine partnership between China and the U.S.; continued growth will not lead China’s political system to become any more free or open, and its brand of authoritarian capitalism will compete with the West’s democratic ideal as a possible model for the developing world. Though his position may seem pessimistic, the author does believe that China’s concern with its prestige in the world gives the United States leverage in its attempt to shape the geopolitics, and he concludes this sobering, excellently argued book with a series of concrete policy recommendations to that end.