Sentinel State - Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party's political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China's surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power.

About the author

Minxin Pei is the author of several books on Chinese politics, including China’s Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay and China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. He is the Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College.

Product details

• Authors: Minxin Pei, Pei Minxin
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 17.03.2026
• EAN: 9780674303553
• ISBN: 978-0-674-30355-3
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Security (National & International), Asia, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects, Warfare & defence, Far-left political ideologies and movements, Ethical issues & debates, Warfare and defence, Impact of science & technology on society, Impact of science and technology on society, Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies, Left-of-centre democratic ideologies, Marxism & Communism, Ethical issues and debates, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Privacy & Surveillance