Relationships between political and business elites are crucial in determining a nation’s political-economic trajectory. Understanding such relationships and why they change over time can tell us much about the fundamental nature of a regime and its degree of stability, especially for authoritarian regimes that feature capitalist growth. In Precarious Ties, Meg Rithmire offers a novel account of the relationships between business and political elites in three authoritarian regimes in developing Asia: Indonesia under Suharto’s New Order, Malaysia under the Barisan Nasional, and China under the Chinese Communist Party. To understand the differing economic outcomes of these nations, Rithmire introduces two conceptual models—mutual alignment and mutual endangerment—that explain the variation and instability found in state-business relations in authoritarian regimes. Empirically rich and sweeping in scope, Precarious Ties offers lessons for all nations in which the state and the private sector are deeply entwined.

Join the East Asia Center as we welcome Meg Rithmire, F. Warren McFarlan Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, for a Nelson Lecture on Southeast Asia wherein she will be discussing her recent book, Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia. Co-sponsored by the Miller Center, the talk will be held Friday, February 23, from 3:15 - 4:30 p.m. in Monroe 124.