Branko Milanovic's Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System that Rules the World challenges the dominant narrative characterizing the emergence of China as a global superpower as the most recent iteration of a clash between a liberal capitalist West, and an East that continues to bear its communist legacy. Conceding to the global dominance of capitalism, he offers a new duality to contend with: a Western liberal meritocratic capitalism (represented by the US), and a State-led political capitalism (represented by China). Capitalism, Alone seeks to identify the core political, economic, and social attributes of each type, and to distinguish features that could contribute to the fall of the former and a greater domination of the latter.

Milanovic's characterization of political capitalism is especially well-founded and concise. At its core, it is defined by three key components: a bureaucracy that is able to achieve high economic growth and legitimize rule, the absence of the rule of law, and a capacity for the state to act decisively and arbitrarily. These features give rise to two internal contradictions that render the system one that must be kept in constant equilibrium. First, the need for law-administering technocratic elites is at tension with a need for the absence of the rule of law. Second, a need for corruption as an incentive for performance, but only to the extent that the legitimacy of the system itself is not threatened. For Milanovic, the perception of income inequality as a result of corruption is a greater threat to the system than the fact that real income inequality is present and rising. Ultimately, economic success and efficient administration make political capitalism attractive as a model to follow, so long as corruption is monitored and the fragile double equilibrium is maintained.

The unique and complex components of political capitalism are elucidated in the foreground of its better known and globally pervasive counterpart. Liberal meritocratic capitalism is characterized by a privately-owned means of production, legally hired free labour, and decentralized coordination. Milanovic identifies six factors as contributors to a rise in inequality and an absence of responsive social policies within this type of capitalism, highlighting the principal internal threat to its dominance. The survival of this form of capitalism is thus contingent on its ability to engage with new sources of income inequality, as they not only diminish its value for a domestic population, but erode its reputation and the promise of democracy and rule of law—a promise crucial in light of its growing competition with political capitalism.

In terms of replication beyond China, the success of implementing political capitalism is contingent upon the presence of a decentralized authoritarian structure. Decentralization encourages non-localized elites to implement successful policies with the incentive of moving up within the political system, while an authoritarian centre acts as a backbone that is able to both reward such policies and maintain a united regime. This unique set of conditions grants political capitalism some potential for export, but do not necessarily guarantee economic success elsewhere, especially to the extent of China's. In conjunction with this basis, the author's historical understanding of communism presents post-colonial status as another key factor in the success of this version of capitalism. Communism is situated within history as a social system that empowered colonized societies to abolish outdated modes of production in favour of an indigenized and distinct strain of capitalism—as is the case with China. It is here that Milanovic crucially engages with the limits of the external introduction of capitalism, a trait that has been essential to the global spread of liberal meritocratic capitalism.

Milanovic's account of the two capitalisms is supported by a masterfully interwoven abundance of empirical, theoretical, and historical evidence. His systematic analysis of each version, from emergence to traits and flaws, deliver complex economic concepts in an easily comprehensible form. Strategic and metered use of evidence paired with a refusal to rely on exclusive jargon and lexis build a simple yet provocative discussion. The conceptions of political and liberal meritocratic capitalism prove to be both novel and compelling. These strengths, however, are overshadowed by the concluding approach chosen by the author. Much of the first half of the book is dedicated to the mapping of two variants of an economic ideology, each vying for dominance within the global sphere. The natural trajectory of such an introduction would point to some comparison that places the two in conversation, in order to assess their merits and faults in relation to one another. Instead, Milanovic presents an analysis of globalization that though detailed and interesting, falls short of realizing its role as the stage upon which capitalisms compete for dominance.

Ultimately, Milanovic's proposition is valuable as framework for understanding the future of political capitalism, within China and beyond. In terms of the expansion of the Chinese model, Milanovic does not offer a definite prediction. A similar systemic set of conditions is presented as requirements for the successful export of the model. He also recognizes the presence of political capitalisms beyond China, in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore, but perhaps more interestingly in Algeria, Angola, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Chinese presence in Africa, the Belt and Road initiative, and the Asian Infrastructure Bank are flagged as mechanisms through which China has begun to utilize its power in ways that could lead to the expansion of the Chinese system. This expansion, however, exists alongside a potential for the rise of indigenous political capitalisms.

Academic literature addressing China tends to situate the emerging power at the cusp of some imminent and inevitable transformation. As explored by Carl Minzner, in his End of an Era: How China's Authoritarian Revival is Undermining Its Rise (Oxford, 2018) this impending change could be as simple as a shift towards populist nationalism, a moderate evolution of status quo authoritarianism to neo-totalitarianism, or a more extreme regime collapse. The key contribution of Capitalism, Alone is found in its roadmap of conditions that must be satisfied in order to achieve such an outcome, and specific policies that would allow China to maintain its fragile equilibrium. Crucially, Milanovic does not view the clash of the two capitalisms as a zero-sum game, and does not seek to predict the exclusive success of one in dominating the other. Rather, his description and interpretation of political capitalism and its remarkable success in China can serve as a strong analytical framework upon which any predictions about the future of China can be leveraged and assessed.