the nineties were a long time ago, and Lucian Pye seems out of favor now. But I find his analyses on point regarding CCP domestically and internationally, and still useful in explaining Xi and his ideas. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/1990-09-01/china-erratic-state-frustrated-society and https://numerons.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/civility-social-capital-and-civil-society-explaining-asia-mit-paper.pdf and https://www2.gwu.edu/~sigur/assets/docs/scap/SCAP1-Pye.pdf All are good reading, even if they take some time.