"Loyalty-Competence Tradeoff 2.0": The Recruitment of "Weak Experts" as the Source of Authoritarian Performance and Resilience

This thesis has given the classic political science/economy concept, "loyalty-competence tradeoff," a 2.0 patch by observing the elite recruitment in China's provincial leadership under President Xi Jinping. This thesis introduces the concept of "Weak Experts" officials, those with solid professional expertise but weak political networks with former top leaderships, and employs both Ordinary Least Squares and the Fixed Effects models to examine the impact of "weak expert" officials on provincial development and loyalty to Xi Jinping, this thesis argues that weak experts are more effective in advancing China's state developmental agenda, as evidenced by an increase in high-tech patents and greater efficiency in the use of government funding. Simultaneously, these officials exhibit greater loyalty to President Xi Jinping, reflected in the more extolment phrases to Xi's ideological campaign and rhetorical alignment with the central agenda. The thesis contributes to the broader literature on authoritarian performance and resilience, suggesting that the strategic appointment of "weak experts" enables dictators to enhance governance outcomes while not at the expense of political survival.