1. Communism, Post-Communism
and the Good Society
Chapter Eleven
Pearson Publishing 2011

2. • In 1987 the communist Soviet Union dominated Eastern
Europe...By 1992 there were only five communist regimes left
in the world: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam.
• Communist regimes are distinguished from other authoritarian
regimes by two features: Communist Party rule and centrallyplanned economies.
• Post-communist regimes have faced the challenge of
restructuring these institutional features.
• In this chapter we will examine the institutional features of
communist and post-communist regimes in the 20th Century
using two cases studies:
• Electoral Authoritarianism in Russia
• One-Party Rule in China
Communism & Post-Communism
Pearson Publishing 2011

3. •
Communist
Party Rule
•
•
Led by small elite of party leaders whose goal is
to lead workers in overthrowing capitalism and
building a communist society
Parties organized hierarchically based on
democratic centralism - while party leaders are in
theory elected by lower party members, power is
centralized and elections are elite-controlled
The party and the state are separate, but the party
controls the state.
• Overlap of personnel
• Nomenklatura - lists of positions that can only be
filled by party committee approval
• Most government officials are party members
•
All societal organizations are controlled by the
party (unions, youth groups, women’s
associations, media, etc.)
Communism
Pearson Publishing 2011

4. •
Centrally
Planned
Economies
•
•
State-owned enterprises are managed
through central planning in which economic
planners determine price and quantity rather
than market principles of supply and
demand.
Economies are isolated from world markets.
Flaws of centrally-planned economies:
• Adept at achieving extensive growth
(mobilizing labor, material, etc.) but not
intensive growth (producing efficiently)
• Create few incentives for innovation or
increasing productivity
Communism
Pearson Publishing 2011

5. • Communist regimes were first established in the Soviet Union,
led by Vladimir Lenin in the 1917 revolution
• In the 1930s Joseph Stalin oversaw the creation of a stateowned, centrally-planned economy with collectivized
agriculture.
• These institutions spread to other regimes through conquest
and revolution:
• Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and East Germany
• China’s and Vietnam’s communist parties came to power through
social revolutions and adopted Soviet institutions
• The post-World War II world was defined by the bipolar
struggle between Soviet communism and American
democracy.
Rise of Communist Regimes in
Eastern Europe & the Soviet Union
Pearson Publishing 2011

6. • By 1980 all of these communist countries faced severe
economic problems and fell further behind the democratic
West.
• In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became head of the Soviet
Union’s Communist Party and began reforms aimed to renew
economic growth:
• Glasnost - “openness” to encourage freer expression of opinion
• Perestroika - “restructuring” to loosen state control of the
economy
• Demokratizatsiia - introduced a limited version of democracy
• Improving relations with the United States and West
• These reforms eventually led to the collapse of communist
regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
Fall of Communist Regimes in
Eastern Europe & the Soviet Union
Pearson Publishing 2011

7. • Communist regimes imposed by the Soviet Union never
achieved legitimacy with many citizens. Uprisings were
crushed by Soviet troops.
• As these citizens realized that Soviet troops would no longer
intervene against challenges to communism they began to
push for democratic reforms.
• Without Soviet backing these communist regimes fell like
dominos.
• High point was the fall of the Berlin wall dividing East and West
Germany
• Still, few expected the Soviet Union’s communist regime to
collapse.
Fall of Communist Regimes in
Eastern Europe & the Soviet Union
Pearson Publishing 2011

8. Why did the
Soviet Union
collapse?
• Gorbachev’s ambitious reforms
divided the party.
• A failed 1991 coup discredited
Gorbachev and cast weakness on the
party’s unity.
• When Boris Yeltsin won the
Presidency in 1991 he finally
defeated Gorbachev by encouraging
the collapse of the Soviet Union and
the Communist Party.
• The USSR finally fell in December
1991.
The Fall of the Soviet Union
Pearson Publishing 2011

9. • After the fall of the Soviet Union its fifteen republics formed
independent countries.
• Most have made relatively smooth transitions to democracy and
market economies.
• Russia and others have maintained weak and unstable
democracies or some form of personal rule or electoral
authoritarianism.
• Communist regimes did not collapse everywhere - China,
Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam maintain communist
institutions. Why?
• They had greater legitimacy than the Eastern European regimes.
• They were more independent of Soviet control and not as affected
by Gorbachev’s reforms.
• They avoided internal divisions.
Post-Communist Regimes
Pearson Publishing 2011

10. Russia
China
• Example of a postcommunist system
• No longer ruled by a
communist party
• Still, contemporary politics
and economics are heavily
shaped by past communist
party rule.
• Example of a current
communist system
• Has adapted its communist
institutions
• Allows more individual
freedom than in the past
• Much economic activity is
privatized
• Economy is dependent on
international trade and is a
WTO member
Case Studies
Pearson Publishing 2011

11. •
•
•
•
Largest land area of any country
Second largest oil-producer after Saudi Arabia
80% of the population is ethnically Russian
Maintains an electoral authoritarian regime and a mixed
economy
• Adult literacy rates are high and infant mortality rates
low, but life expectancy is still lower than many less
developed countries
Russia
Pearson Publishing 2011

12. • 1917.............October Revolution
• Collapse of the Czarist regime
• 1917-1924....Government of Lenin and the Bolsheviks
• 1924-1953....Government of Joseph Stalin
• 1953-1991....Communist Party rule
• Cold War runs from post-World War II until the fall of the
Soviet Union
• 1991..............Collapse of the Soviet Union
• 1991-Present....Electoral authoritarian regime
Russia’s Timeline
Pearson Publishing 2011

13. Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin
• Suppressed other political
parties
• Created internal security
force to collect intelligence
and arrest opponents
• Nationalized banks and
major businesses
• Allowed farmers to keep
land and recognized private
property
• Sought a gradual transition
to a command economy
• Pursued a 3-part economic
revolution
1) agricultural collectivization
and the abolishment of private
farms
2) creation of a state-owned,
centrally-planned economy
3) invested in capital goods (i.e.:
power plants, railroads,
military equipment) at the
expense of consumer goods
• Used terror to annihilate
party opponents
Comparing Lenin & Stalin
Pearson Publishing 2011

14. Figure 11.1
Pearson Publishing 2011

15. • President
• Appointment powers
• Controls foreign affairs and
the military
• Popularly elected to four-year
terms
• 2-term limit
• Yeltsin: 1996-2000
• Putin: 2000-2008
• Medvedev: 2008-present
• Prime Minister
• Appointed by President and
approved by Duma
• Manages day-to-day
government business
• Focus on economic and social
issues
• Legislature-Upper House
• Federation Council is
relatively weak
• 2 members from each
regional governments
• Legislature-Lower House
• State Duma
• Popularly elected to 4-year
terms based on
proportionality
• Primary legislative body
• Ability to check executive has
continually weakened
• Court System
• Constitutional Court
• Supreme Court with lower
courts
• Reputation for corruption
Russia’s Government
Pearson Publishing 2011

16. Figure 11.2
Pearson Publishing 2011

17. • Highly centralized - the central government continues to
exert significant control over regional governments
• Ex: President appoints governors who are confirmed by
regional legislatures
• Still, the state remains relatively weak
• The World Bank rates Russia’s government effectiveness
well below that of China and Brazil
• The state lacks professionalized civil servants and
corruption is rampant
• 2009 Transparency International ranked Russia the 146th
most corrupt country in the world
The Russian State
Pearson Publishing 2011

18. • The main theme of state-society relations in Russia since
2000 has been a decline in political competition and
political accountability, and a corresponding increase in
control of political parties, interest groups, and media by
central state authorities.
• Ex: tight control over party financing, complicated laws,
increasing the percentage of seats a party must win to get
into the Duma, election fraud
• The United Russia Party is the dominant party, or “party
of power,” and is catered to by the media.
• Still, smaller parties are allowed to exist to continue the
facade of democracy
Russia - State & Society
Pearson Publishing 2011

19. • The state has also increased control over interest groups.
• The most powerful interest groups relate to business, but
are still unwilling to challenge the state for abuses.
• Small businesses are most vulnerable to corrupt police
officers, organized crime, and government inspectors.
• Putin sought to break up powerful Russian oligarchs and
prevent them from influencing politics.
• The largest union in Russia represents 95% of unionized
workers, but has little political influence.
• The state controls the three television stations through
which 90% of Russians get their news.
• Alternatives do exist, but are rarely used.
Russia - State & Society
Pearson Publishing 2011

20. • Most Russians are not
committed to democratic
values.
• When the Russian
standard of living fell in
the 1990s most blamed
democracy for the
failure.
• The Russian political
ideal is that of a
paternalistic state that
projects power abroad.
• Domestically, Russians
want a government that
provides for them.
• Most Russians are highly
nationalistic.
• 83% were polled as
“willing to fight for their
country” in 2006
• There is little support for
self-expression values.
• Still, some suggest that the
Russian authoritarian
regime is stable because it
fits with political cultural
expectations.
Russia - Political Culture
Pearson Publishing 2011

21. • Early 1990s Russian economy was based on “shock
therapy” - making a transition to a market economy as
rapidly as possible.
• Letting the market set prices instead of government
planners
• Selling state-owned firms to private investors
• Slashing state spending to reduce budget-deficits
• Encouraging foreign investment
• For most of the 1990s shock therapy did not work as
planned.
• This led to an intense debate over the role of the Russian
state in the economy
• Communist supporters wanted a larger role for the state
• Others supported continued market policies
Russia - Political Economy
Pearson Publishing 2011

22. • President Putin adopted continued market strategies,
excepting key economic sectors - oil and gas in
particular.
• Domestically profits from these sectors have allowed the
government to subsidize favored industries.
• Internationally they have allowed the government to
threaten other countries with cutting off their access to oil.
• In response to the recent international economic crisis,
President Medvedev has been unable to achieve further
progress due to continued reliance on current political
systems.
Russia - Political Economy
Pearson Publishing 2011v

23. •
•
•
•
Largest population of any country (1.3 billion people)
Averaged 10% economic growth annually since 1980
Second largest world economy (PPP)
Faces increasing inequality and extensive environmental
damage
• Maintains a communist regime
• 92% are ethnically Chinese
China
Pearson Publishing 2011

24. • Pre-1911......China weakened by foreign powers and wars
• China’s dynastic history dates back to 221 B.C.
• 1911-1916....Collapse of dynasty and Republic of China
• 1916-1949....Competition between political parties
• Nationalist/Guomindang Party led by Chiang Kai-shek
• Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong
• Communists gained support by rallying against the Japanese
during World War II
• October 1949....People’s Republic of China is founded
• Nationalists are driven to the island of Taiwan and claim their
legitimacy as the true China
• 1958-1960....The Great Leap Forward
• 1966-1970....Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution
• 1980s............Deng Xiaoping and the opening of China
China’s Timeline
Pearson Publishing 2011

25. Mao
Zedong’s
Policies
•
•
Early years relied on the Soviet model of
socialism - collectivization and
nationalization
Great Leap Forward represented Mao’s
attempt to change the failing Soviet model
based on mass mobilization of peasants and
workers
• Considered a vast failure resulting in a famine
that killed 30 million between 1959 and 1962
•
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution sought
to purge the party of “class enemies” and old
customs
• Charged Red Guards and students with rooting
out any capitalist influences
• A period of significant violence
China
Pearson Publishing 2011
•
Only after Mao’s death in 1976 did stable
party leadership emerge

26. •
Deng
Xiaoping’s
Reforms
•
• Ended collective farming, but did not restore
property rights
• Opened China to world markets
• Permitted privately-owned businesses
•
•
China
Pearson Publishing 2011
Sought to gain legitimacy for the
Communist Party based on rapid economic
growth and stability
Gave a greater role to markets through
reform and opening:
Reforms did not benefit all, leading to
protests such as the student protests in
Tiananmen Square resulting in violent
suppression by Chinese soldiers
Economic opening and growth has created a
complex society with new cleavages and
interests that may potentially threaten party
rule.

27. • Politburo
• Makes all major policy
decisions
• 9 members make up the
standing committee
• Secretariat
• Led by the General Secretary
• Oversees implementation of
Politburo decisions and
controls personnel
• In theory elected by the
Central Committee (in reality
it is the other way around)
• National Party Congress
• Hierarchical structure with
provincial institutions as well
• Little legislative power
• Premier
• Heads China’s State
Council (cabinet)
• Oversees the government
• President
• Ceremonial position
• Meets and negotiates with
foreign leaders
• National People’s Congress
• Indirectly elected
• Little power, but is
becoming more outspoken
• Supreme People’s Court
• Subordinate to the
Communist Party
China’s Government
Pearson Publishing 2011

28. • The Chinese Communist Party understands that it must walk a fine
line between preventing democratic experiments (e.g.: what led to
the fall of the Soviet Union) and surviving only on coercion (e.g.:
what led to Tiananmen Square).
• Has developed a number of strategies:
• Be more ideologically flexible
• Co-opt social elites instead of repressing them
• Support market oriented economic development
• But has failed to adapt to the needs of ethnic minorities in border
territories (e.g.: Tibet)
• The one-child policy is an example of attempts at control social
behavior
• Strictly controls information through the media and internet
China - State & Society
Pearson Publishing 2011

29. Problem
Methods & Hypotheses
• Most authoritarian regimes
give citizens little
opportunity to participate.
• Kellee Tsai asks: Will
emerging capitalists classes
lead demands for democracy
against such regimes?
• Hypothesis - Chinese
capitalists have created
“adaptive informal
institutions” resulting in
changes to the national
institutions favorable to
capitalists.
• Interviews with private
entrepreneurs.
Comparative Political Analysis:
Will Chinese Capitalists Lead the Way to Democracy?
Pearson Publishing 2011

30. Operationalizing Concepts
1.
2.
“Adaptive informal institutions” patterns of interaction between
entrepreneurs and local officials
that emerge in reaction to
constraints and opportunities
created by official rules and
regulations
Changes in institutions at the
national level (official
institutions)
Results
• Finds that the informal coping
strategies developed by
entrepreneurs became
institutionalized as regular business
practices.
• These practices were so productive
that national leaders changed
formal rules to be more supportive
of private businesses.
• The overall result has been
considerable change in formal rules
in China to favor capitalists.
Comparative Political Analysis:
Will Chinese Capitalists Lead the Way to Democracy?
Pearson Publishing 2011

31. • Most Chinese assume China should be a regional and
world power, taking great national pride in its economic
development and cultural accomplishments.
• This is coupled with resentment over the way Western
powers humiliated China in the 19th and early-20th
centuries.
• China maintains a high level of regime support (94.4%).
• Moreover, most Chinese are satisfied with the level of
democracy in their country.
• Many credit the regime’s ability to increase the standard of
living for most Chinese with this high level of support
• Chinese also enjoy more personal freedoms than in the past.
China - Political Culture
Pearson Publishing 2011

32. Table 11.1
Pearson Publishing 2011

33. “Socialism with
Chinese
characteristics.”
• Four Principles:
• Markets set prices in most sectors
and there is a large role for privatelyowned firms.
• Small and medium-sized state-owned
enterprises that perform badly will be
shut down or sold.
• China will compete in world
markets.
• China will remain socialist by
keeping a large state-owned
enterprise sector and retaining
collective ownership of farm land.
China - Political Economy
Pearson Publishing 2011

34. • At the top is a small capitalist class of highly successful
business people.
• Next is a middle class of small entrepreneurs, white
collar employees of large companies, and professionals
• Together these two groups account for 13% of the urban
population and 5% of the total population
• 40-50 million people make up the new class of urban
poor.
• The Gini Index measures income inequality (100 =
perfect inequality).... China’s score has risen from 33 in
the 1970s to 49 in 2005.
• 45% of China’s wealth is owned by 10% of the
population, while the poorest 10% own only 1.4% of
China’s wealth.
Economic Inequality in China
Pearson Publishing 2011

35. • The gap between average incomes of
urban and rural residents in 2005 was 3:1.
• These inequalities extend to education and
healthcare.
• New policies have focused on addressing
these social problems, especially in rural
areas
• Unemployment benefits
• Living subsidies
• Food subsidies
Urban-Rural Divide
Pearson Publishing 2011

36. • Twenty of the world’s most polluted cities are in China,
and China has surpassed the US as the biggest producer
of carbon dioxide.
• Water supplies are threatened by pollution and depletion
due to irrigation
• Air pollution causes as many as 750,000 premature
deaths a year.
• Efforts are being made to address these challenges:
• Using alternative energies to reduce dependence on oil and
coal
• Production of wind turbines and solar electric panels
• Still, primary focus is on economic growth, not
environmental sustainability.
Environmental Challenges
Pearson Publishing 2011

37. How do each of
our case
studies
perform in
our criteria
for a Good
Society?
• Evaluating performance will
provide clues as to which type
of regime best meets the needs
of its citizens
• Consider:
•
•
•
•
Infant Mortality
Literacy Rates
Crime Rates
Voice and Accountability
Comparing Capabilities
Pearson Publishing 2011

38. Table 11.2
Pearson Publishing 2011

39. Table 11.3
Pearson Publishing 2011

40. Table 11.4
Pearson Publishing 2011

41. Table 11.5
Pearson Publishing 2011

42. • Vladimir Putin received job approval ratings of over 70%
for most of his term in office and was chosen as president
by overwhelming margins by voters. If the great majority
of Russians approved of him and his policies what does it
matter that Russia has an electoral authoritarian regime
rather than a democratic one?
• Evidence from surveys in Russia and China finds that their
authoritarian regimes fit their countries’ political culture. If
this is the case isn’t it inappropriate for citizens from a very
different political culture such as that of the United States to
criticize these regimes?
Critical Thinking Questions
Pearson Publishing 2011

43. • Why has China’s communist party-state been able to
survive the kind of political upheavals that toppled
communist party-states in Eastern Europe and the Soviet
Union?
• The collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and
the Soviet Union caused leaders of the CCP to undertake
one of the biggest comparative studies in recent history.
What was their dependent variable? What were their main
independent variables?
• Why have leaders of China’s communist party supported
market oriented economic policies even though they have
led to growing income inequality and favoring business
people over workers?
Critical Thinking Questions
Pearson Publishing 2011