Episode Details

Michael McFaul examines the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the subsequent American policy of reaching out to the Chinese Communist Party with an open hand. McFaul critiques the Bush administration's decision to prioritize balancing against the Soviets over human rights, suggesting a "dual track" approach would have been more effective. While Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms spurred unprecedented growth, the Western theory that economic modernization would inevitably lead to democratization proved false. Today, China remains a highly successful economy ruled by a dictatorship, highlighting the complexities of decoupling values from commercial interests. (2)
1905