International Forum for Democratic Studies Research Council Member

Minxin Pei

Claremont McKenna College

Minxin Pei is the Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and the director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College. He is also a non-resident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Prior to joining CMC in July 2009, Dr. Pei was a senior associate and the director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.

His research focuses on democratization in developing countries, economic reform and governance in China, and U.S.-China relations. He is the author of From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press, 1994) and China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Harvard University Press, 2006). Dr. Pei’s research has been published in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Modern China, China Quarterly, Journal of Democracy and many edited books. Dr. Pei is a frequent commentator on BBC World News, Voice of America, and National Public Radio; his op-eds have appeared in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek International, International Herald Tribune, and other major newspapers. Dr. Pei received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He was on the faculty at Princeton University from 1992 to 1998. Dr. Pei is a recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships, including the National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the McNamara Fellowship at the World Bank, and the Olin Faculty Fellowship of the Olin Foundation.


Forum Events

“Will China Democratize?”, International Forum for Democratic Studies (Apr. 10, 2014)

Forum Publications

“China and East Asian Democracy: Is CCP Rule Fragile or Resistant?” Journal of Democracy (Jan. 2012)

“How will China Democratize?” Journal of Democracy (July 2007)

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