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This is why I am skeptical about the long term threat/success of China. With Xi now effectively chairman for life he will put more energy into maintaining his p
by jsperson 6y ago
This is why I am skeptical about the long term threat/success of China. With Xi now effectively chairman for life he will put more energy into maintaining his position than governing.
- mc32 6y agoUnfortunately for the governed there is a lot left to drain out of their reservoir. Take Venezuela for example. It’s been going on 20 years too long but it keeps going.
- jsperson 6y agoOn the flip side - it also means that if we have a bad president or two in the United States, we’ll still probably be ok. With multiple branches of government there’s only so much damage that can be done in 4/8 years.
- karmakaze 6y agoI used to think that. Then this term happened. Or I still do but severely underestimated "only so much damage".
- ByteJockey 6y agoPersonally I think it's less about how much energy is put into maintaining your position, and more about how the system adapts to the presence of an individual. When an individual is in power for an extended period of time, the system adapts to them being there. The longer they're there, the more the system comes to rely on them being there instead of an arbitrary person being in that position. This, I think, is one of the reasons that the transition period in long running monarchies is so dangerous. All of the plans that relied on the specific qualities of the former leader just went out the window.