Welfare for Autocrats

Explore the detrimental effects of China's focus on political stability in Welfare for Autocrats. Jennifer Pan reveals how the country's social assistance program, Dibao, has been manipulated into a tool of surveillance and repression, causing damage to perceptions of government legitimacy and potentially sparking unrest among those denied benefits. Pan examines the phenomenon of seepage, where one policy alters the goals of unrelated areas of government. With unique datasets and methodologies, Welfare for Autocrats challenges assumptions about repression and reveals the high human costs of China's preoccupation with order.