In 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) declared victory in its civil war, a Cold War perspective neatly divided the world into communist and anticommunist/liberal democratic poles. Each side seemed intent on winning this ideological struggle, even if it meant supporting unsavory regimes throughout the world. The West turned to the export of democracy as part of its strategy of fighting the Cold War. When China entered its period of opening and reform in 1979, the world was still in the grips of the Cold War ideological view. Although the analysis had become more complex, policy-makers in the West still framed the choice as fundamentally one between liberal democracy and authoritarian communist rule. These analytical concepts were not rethought. Rather, policy-makers merely tweaked their old ideas to adjust to extraordinary changes in China’s governance and society without a fundamental recasting of dearly held views.