Human beings approaching 100 normally think about death, but political parties celebrating their centennial, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will on Thursday, are obsessed with immortality.
Such optimism seems odd for parties that rule dictatorships, because their longevity records do not inspire confidence. That no other such party in modern times has survived for a century should give China’s leaders cause for worry, not celebration.
One obvious reason for the relatively short lifespan of communist or authoritarian parties is that modern party-dominated dictatorships, unlike democracies, emerged only in the 20th century.
