Los Angeles Times - China's powerful weakness

Los Angeles Times - China's powerful weakness

Francis Fukuyama considers the Chinese central government's lack of control over local bureaus: "Americans traditionally distrust strong central government and champion a federalism that distributes powers to state and local governments. The logic of wanting to move government closer to the people is strong, but we often forget that tyranny can be imposed by local oligarchies as much as by centralized ones. In the history of the Anglophone world, it is not the ability of local authorities to check the central government but rather a balance of power between local authorities and a strong central government that is the true cradle of liberty." He cites England, pre-revolutionary France, and the Jim Crow South as contrasting examples.