A Government of Outsiders: The Politics of Provincial Leader Rotation in China

Thank you for taking time to read this draft. This paper was presented at MPSA this year and I wish to develop it into my prospectus. My work uses China as a case to study how authoritarian regimes design the personnel system to manage intergovernmental relationship and sustain their rule. I will greatly appreciate any thoughts on how the paper can be improved. In particular, I look forward to feedback on 1.> how my work can be better situated in the broader literature of political institutions in authoritarian countries; 2.> how the appointment system works in other authoritarian regimes; 3.> other hypotheses that can be tested to understand the strategic choices behind appointment decisions; 4.> further evidence that should be presented to reinforce my argument.