Stein Ringen (born July 5, 1945) is a Norwegian sociologist and political scientist. He is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford (formerly Green College, Oxford).
Ringen holds a magister degree in political science (a 7-year degree including 3 years of research) from the University of Oslo (1972) and a Dr. philos. degree from the University of Oslo (1987).
He has been a visiting professor at Université de Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne (1995, 1996), École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (1996-1997), Masaryk University (2003), Charles University (2003), University of the West Indies (2004, 2006) and Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (2006).
In his latest book The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century, Ringen provides insights that explain how China's authoritarian system works and where the party-state may be moving.
By pointing out Chinese Communist Party's priorities, i.e, self-preservation, stability and economic growth, Ringen argues that what concerns Party the most is the lack of political legitimacy.[4]
Ringen creates a word "controlocracy" to describe Party's governance through censorship and stability management etc. It does not depend on commanding most people in their daily lives and is able to mostly rely on their acquiescence and self-censorship.
Ringen also believes that China's achievement is overestimated because of its size.
From Ringen's point of view, "China Dream" is a dangerous ideology promoted by the Party because it makes national greatness and individual happiness inseparable.
Based on the fact that China's economic growth is slowing down and social freedom is deteriorating, Ringen predicts that China may become a new Nazi state under Communist Party's consolidating power and absolute rule.