Will China Suffer the Same Fate as the Soviet Union?

Martinez, Carlos

doi:10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.2.0189

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World Review of Political Economy

Volume 11, Issue 2

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Will China Suffer the Same Fate as the Soviet Union?

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Author(s): Carlos Martinez

Publication date (Print): 1 July 2020

Journal: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: China, Soviet Union, socialism, reform

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Abstract

It was widely assumed in the West following the collapse of European socialism that China would undergo a similar process of counter-revolution. This article seeks to understand why, three decades later, this hasn't happened, and whether it is likely to happen in the foreseeable future. The article contrasts China's “reform and opening up” process, pursued since 1978, with the “perestroika” and “glasnost” policies taken up in the Soviet Union under the Gorbachev leadership. A close analysis of the available data makes it clear that China's reform has been far more successful than the Soviet reform; that, in contrast to the Soviet Union in the 1980s, all the key quality of life indicators in China have undergone significant improvement in the last 40 years, and China is emerging as a global leader in science, technological innovation and environmental preservation. The article argues that the disparate outcomes in China and the Soviet Union are the result primarily of the far more effective economic strategy pursued by the Chinese government, along with the continued strengthening of the Communist Party of China's leadership.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005553

Journal ID (jcode): worlrevipoliecon

Title: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 2042-891X

ISSN: 2042-8928

Publication date (Print): 1 July 2020

Volume: 11

Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.issue-2 )

Pages: 189-207

Article

Publisher ID: worlrevipoliecon.11.2.0189

DOI: 10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.11.2.0189

SO-VID: fc7f60e5-919e-46fa-b16d-12a33f60001c

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Custom metadata

lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Political economics

Keywords: Soviet Union,socialism,reform,China

References

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Ball, P. 2018. “China's Great Leap Forward in Science.” The Guardian, February 18. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/18/china-great-leap-forward-science-research-innovation-investment-5g-genetics-quantum-internet.

[2] Braithwaite, R. 2012. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979–89. London: Profile Books.

[3] Brzezinski, Z. 1998. “Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur.” Accessed April 28, 2020. https://dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu/brzezinski_interview.

[4] Castro, F. 1995. “Discurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente de la República de Cuba, en la recepción efectuada en el Palacio de la Reunificacion. Ciudad Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam, 10 de diciembre de 1995” [Address by Fidel Castro Luz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at a Reception at the Palace of Unification. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 10 December 1995]. Cuba. cu. Accessed February 18, 2021. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1995/esp/f101295e.html.

[5] Castro, F. 2013. Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa's Freedom and Our Own. New York: Pathfinder Press.

[6] Cheng, E., and Z. Liu. 2017. “The Historical Contribution of the October Revolution to the Economic and Social Development of the Soviet Union: Analysis of the Soviet Economic Model and the Causes of its Dramatic End.” International Critical Thought 7 (3): 297–308.

[7] Clegg, J. 2009. China's Global Strategy: Towards a Multipolar World. London: Pluto Press.

[8] Deng, X. 1980. “Answers to the Italian Journalist Oriana Fallaci.” People.cn, August 21. Accessed April 28, 2020. http://en.people.cn/dengxp/vol2/text/b1470.html.

[9] Deng, X. 1984. “We Regard Reform as a Revolution.” China.org.cn, October 10. Accessed April 28, 2020. http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/dengxiaoping/103366.htm.

[10] Deng, X. 1992. “Excerpts from Talks Given in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai.” People.cn. Accessed April 28, 2020. http://en.people.cn/dengxp/vol3/text/d1200.html.

[11] Deng, X. 2001. “Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles (1979).” In Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, 1975–1982, 166–191. Honolulu, HI: University Press of the Pacific.

[12] Deng, X. 2007. “We Must Adhere to Socialism: A Talk with Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Former President of Tanzania, Chairman of the Tanzanian Revolutionary Party and Chairman of the South Commission, November 23, 1989.” China Daily. Accessed April 28, 2020. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/30/content_6148311.htm.

[13] Finamore, B. 2018. Will China Save the Planet? Environmental Futures. Cambridge: Polity Books.

[14] Gupta, R. 2020. “China on Target to Eliminate Extreme Poverty by 2020.” China.org.cn, January 21. Accessed April 28, 2020. http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2020-01/21/content_75636612.htm.

[15] Hu, A. 2011. China in 2020: A New Type of Superpower. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

[16] Jacques, M. 2009. When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order. New York: Penguin Press.

[17] Kotz, D. M., and F. Weir. 1997. Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System. New York: Routledge.

[18] Kroeber, A. R. 2016. China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.

[19] Ligachev, Y. 1996. Inside Gorbachev's Kremlin: The Memoirs of Yegor. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

[20] Lin, J. Y. 2012. Demystifying the Chinese Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[21] Lin, J. Y. 2013. “Advantage of Being a Latecomer.” China.org.cn, August 7. Accessed April 28, 2020. http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2013-08/07/content_29646629.htm.

[22] Losurdo, D. 2017. “Has China Turned to Capitalism? Reflections on the Transition from Capitalism to Socialism.” International Critical Thought 7 (1): 15–31.

[23] Lynch, A. 2012. “Deng's and Gorbachev's Reform Strategies Compared.” Russia in Global Affairs, June 24. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/dengs-and-gorbachevs-reform-strategies-compared/.

[24] Nolan, P. 1995. China's Rise, Russia's Fall: Politics, Economics and Planning in the Transition from Stalinism. New York: St Martin's Press.

[25] Nolan, P. 2016. Understanding China: The Silk Road and the Communist Manifesto. New York: Routledge.

[26] Pantsov, A., and S. Levine. 2015. Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[27] Ponomarev, B. N. 1983. Marxism-Leninism in Today's World, a Living and Effective Teaching: A Reply to Critics. 1st English ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

[28] Prashad, V. 2012. The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. London: Verso.

[29] Roberts, M. 2017. “The Russian Revolution: Some Economic Notes.” Michael Robert's Blog, November 8. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/the-russian-revolution-some-economic-notes/.

[30] Rudolph, J. M., and M. Szonyi, eds. 2018. The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[31] Shambaugh, D. L. 2008. China's Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

[32] Westad, O. A. 2007. The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[33] Woodward, J. 2017. The US vs China: Asia's New Cold War? Manchester: Manchester University Press.

[34] Xi, J. 2014. Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, vol. 1. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.

[35] Zhang, W. 2012. The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State. Hackensack, NJ: World Century.

[36] Zhang, W. 2014. “My Personal Memories as Deng Xiaoping's Interpreter: From Oriana Fallaci to Kim Il-sung to Gorbachev.” Guancha, August 26. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.guancha.cn/ZhangWeiWei/2014_08_26_260544.shtml.

[37] Zubok, V. M. 2007. A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev— The New Cold War History. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

[38] Zyuganov, G. 1997. Gennady My Russia: The Political Autobiography of Gennady Zyuganov Armonk. New York: M. E. Sharpe.