Jörgen Westerståhl Lecture 2026: Xi Jinping’s Permanent Purge and Governance Performance in China

Xi Jinping’s Permanent Purge and Governance Performance in China

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign in 2013, an estimated 5.7 million officials have been disciplined, including over 550 senior leaders.  The unprecedented campaign, instead of winding down over time, has picked up steam during the leader’s third term. Almost one million officials have been punished 2024–2026, including 3 sitting members of the 24-person Politburo and 5 members of the 7- person Central Military Commission, many of whom had been chosen personally for their positions by Xi himself.

Susan Shirk will explain the incentives that motivated Xi to carry out the purge. Second, she will analyze the negative side effects on China's governance caused by the high-pressure discipline imposed on officials by the purge since 2013. Third, she will show how Xi Jinping tried to remedy these problems in governmental performance – caused by his own purges – with a simultaneous study campaign in 2026.

About Susan Shirk 

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Susan Shirk is Research Professor at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy and Director Emeritus of its 21st Century China Center. She is a leading expert on Chinese politics and U.S.-China relations and has studied and engaged with China for more than five decades.

From 1997 to 2000, Susan Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, with responsibility for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia.

She is the author of several influential books on Chinese politics, including China: Fragile Superpower and Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise. Overreach received the 2023 Lionel Gelber Prize and a Silver Medal in the Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Ross Book Award.