David Shambaugh is an authority on China’s political system and Beijing’s international affairs. At George Washington University, he is the Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science and International Affairs, and also the founding Director of the China Policy Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs. Shambaugh, who once worked in the U.S. Department of State and the National Security Council, has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has published more than 30 books on China, including China Goes Global: The Partial Power and, most recently, China’s Leaders: From Mao to Now. What follows is a lightly edited Q&A.Also, see Shambaugh's op-ed in The Wire, on the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, here. David Shambaugh. Illustration by Kate Copeland Q: You began studying China in the 1970s and 1980s. What was the field like then, and can you tell us something abo