IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aka/aoecon/v70y2020isp85-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

China, Eastern Europe and Russia compared

Author

Listed:
  • Ivan Szelenyi

    (Sociology and Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA)

  • Péter Mihályi

    (Department of Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Fővám tér 8, H-1093, Budapest, Hungary
    Department of Economics and Business, Central European University, Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall it was conceivable that China would follow the path towards the cessation of communism, as it happened in the successor states of the USSR, Yugoslavia and the East European satellite states of the Soviet Union. But the Communist Party of China (CPC) managed to retain control and avoided the Russian and East European collapse, a full-fledged transition to capitalism and liberal democracy. For a while, China was on its way to market capitalism with the possible outcome to turn eventually into a liberal democracy. This was a rocky road, with backs-and-forth. But the shift to liberal democracy did not happen. The massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989, approved by Deng Xiaoping, was a more alarming setback than the contemporary Western observers were willing to realize. This paper presents an interpretation of the changes under present Chinese leader, Xi Jinping in a postcommunist comparative perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivan Szelenyi & Péter Mihályi, 2020. "China, Eastern Europe and Russia compared," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 70(s), pages 85-93, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:aka:aoecon:v:70:y:2020:i:s:p:85-93
    DOI: 10.1556/032.2020.00027
    Note: Based on a video message prepared (but not presented) for the Conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of launching of Chinese reform and 30th anniversary of the publication of path-breaking paper by Victor Nee “Market transition theory”, Renmin University (Beijing), August 27–28, 2019.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1556/032.2020.00027
    Download Restriction: subscription
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1556/032.2020.00027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; liberalism; illiberalism; dictatorship; comparative economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • P11 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Planning, Coordination, and Reform
    • P14 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Property Rights
    • P21 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Planning, Coordination, and Reform

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aka:aoecon:v:70:y:2020:i:s:p:85-93. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kriston, Orsolya (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://akademiai.hu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.