The CCP currently does seem to want to keep the population happy but I don't agree that it has to nor that the control is fragile. The bar for revolution is qu

The CCP currently does seem to want to keep the population happy but I don't agree that it has to nor that the control is fragile. The bar for revolution is quite high, during Mao and Stalin, people were starving to death and there was massive unrest but still the parties generally kept power. The CCP clearly doesn't want anything close to that, but this demonstrates that no social unrest is a nice-to-have rather than a requirement for an authoritarian government. Russia is another example. Given the sanctions, economic turmoil, protests about the war it's pretty clear that this special military operation has been a huge net negative for most of the population. In an authoritarian government however there's little need to consider the populace as long as you're above the 'good enough not to revolt' bar. Most focus should be put on the politics of maintaining power.