Inside China's Institutional DNA — Chenggang Xu

10. 11. 2025

This episode of The IR thinker features Professor Chenggang Xu on the conceptual and empirical foundations of his book Institutional Genes: Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism. The conversation unpacks what he means by “institutions” and “institutional genes”, how this framework helps to open the black box of political change, and why certain systems prove remarkably resilient over time. We explore the notion of “stemness”, the contrasts between imperial China and European monarchies, and how specific “genes” in the Russian system shaped Bolshevism. 

Professor Xu then traces Mao’s fusion of Marxism with the legacy of Qin Shi Huang, the institutional differences between Soviet and Chinese communism, and whether contemporary China should be understood as totalitarian or authoritarian. The discussion closes by examining tyrannical incentive structures, the risks of Soviet-style stagnation, and how the institutional genes framework can be extended beyond domestic politics to foreign policy and other domains of global governance.

Chenggang Xu

Professor Chenggang Xu is a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. A leading scholar of institutional economics, political economy and the Chinese political–economic system, he is widely known for developing the concept of regionally decentralised authoritarianism and, more recently, for his work on institutional genes and the historical roots of Chinese totalitarianism. His research is extensively cited in both academic and policy circles, and he has been awarded the China Economics Prize and the Sun Yefang Economics Prize in recognition of his contribution to the study of institutions, development and authoritarian governance.

Publications:

The fundamental institutions of China’s reforms and development

Incentives, information, and organizational form

Industrial clustering, income and inequality in rural China

Clustering, growth and inequality in China

Content

00:00 - Introduction
01:45 - Why this book? The story behind ‘Institutional Genes’
06:34 - Defining ‘institution’ in the institutional genes framework
10:45 - Opening the black box: How institutional genes explain political change
16:29 - The concept of ‘stemness’ explained
20:01 - Imperial China vs European monarchies: Why China was more autocratic
28:28 - The three Russian genes that created Bolshevism
33:43 - Mao’s fusion: Marx plus Qin Shi Huang
38:58 - Soviet vs Chinese communism: Key institutional differences
42:23 - Totalitarian or authoritarian? Defining modern China
48:35 - Tyrannical incentive-compatibility: How totalitarian systems motivate
53:01 - Will China face Soviet-style economic stagnation?
58:52 - Applying institutional genes to foreign policy
01:03:16 - Beyond domestic politics: Where else can we apply this framework?