Minxin Pei Keynote Speaker

Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and the director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College (2009-2019)
Author of four books and numerous op-ed pieces on contemporary Chinese politics
Expert on democratisation in developing countries, economic reform and governance in China, and U.S.-China relations

Minxin Pei's Biography

Minxin Pei is the Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and the director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College (2009-2019).

He is also a non-resident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and sits on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy. In 2019, Dr. Pei was the Library of Congress Chair on U.S.-China Relations. Before taking on his current role at Claremont McKenna College, Dr. Pei served as the director of the Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. from 2004 to 2008.

Dr. Pei is a renowned expert on democratisation in developing countries, economic reform and governance in China, and U.S.-China relations. His research has been published in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Diplomat, Modern China, China Quarterly and Journal of Democracy.

As a respected Chinese-American academic, Dr Pei is a frequent commentator on BBC World News, Voice of America and National Public Radio. He is a regular opinion columnist for Bloomberg and has written for the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, The South China Morning Post, International Herald Tribune, among other major newspapers.

Minxin Pei is the author of five highly lauded books on contemporary Chinese politics. China’s Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay (Harvard University Press, 2016), China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Harvard University Press, 2006), From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press, 1994) and The Sentinel State – Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China (Harvard University Press, 2024), and The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism (Princeton University Press, 2025).

Dr. Pei received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He was on the faculty at Princeton University from 1992 to 1998 and was awarded the LaPorte Preceptorship.

In 2008, Dr Pei was listed as Prospect’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships, including the National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the McNamara Fellowship at the World Bank, and the Olin Faculty Fellowship of the Olin Foundation.

He brings unrivalled authority on China and US China relations as one of the world’s leading scholars of Chinese politics, governance and regime dynamics.
He translates complex developments inside China, from economic reform to authoritarian resilience, into clear insights that help leaders assess geopolitical risk and long-term strategy.
He combines academic rigour with policy relevance through senior roles at Claremont McKenna College, the Carnegie Endowment and advisory positions shaping democratic and transatlantic debate.
He shapes global understanding of China through widely cited books and commentary in leading international media, equipping audiences to cut through ideology and focus on evidence-based analysis.
He helps organisations and decision-makers navigate uncertainty in US China relations by grounding discussion in historical depth, institutional knowledge and real-world consequences.