Understanding China’s Politics, Policies, and Society

Papers Presented at a RAND Corporation Conference on China Research

Scott W. Harold, Tyler Jost, Wendy Leutert, Agnes Xiangzhen Wang

Expert InsightsPublished Oct 2, 2025

Understanding Chinese politics, policies, and society is in many ways harder today than it has been at any point in the past four decades. Interlocutors who were once willing to share opinions that diverged from the official government line have become markedly less willing to do so, and the visas that might permit U.S. researchers to engage with their Chinese counterparts have become harder to come by. Additionally, foreign experts can no longer access many Chinese-language scholarly and policy journals outside China.

In light of these challenges, RAND organized a large-scale conference for leading academics, think tank subject-matter experts, and policy practitioners to discuss the way ahead for researchers looking to inform the outside world’s understanding of China. The conference was organized around four questions central to most research on contemporary China: (1) What are the key factors shaping Chinese leadership decisionmaking and politics today? (2) What are the strategic implications of China’s domestic challenges? (3) What are the key dimensions of economic and technological competition between the United States and China? (4) What are the best research methodologies available to scholars of contemporary China?

These conference proceedings share the papers commissioned to serve as the prompts for panel discussions at the event.

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Harold, Scott W., Tyler Jost, Wendy Leutert, and Agnes Xiangzhen Wang, Understanding China’s Politics, Policies, and Society: Papers Presented at a RAND Corporation Conference on China Research. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CFA3996-1.html.
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This conference was independently initiated and conducted within the China Research Center using a gift from philanthropist Michael Tang, as well as gifts from other RAND supporters and income from operations. This work was undertaken by the China Research Center within RAND Global and Emerging Risks.

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