The Socialist System

It has become a truism that continued economic reform in China will contribute to political change. Policy makers as well as many scholars expect that formation of a private sector will lead, directly or indirectly through the emergence of a civil society, to political change and ultimately democratization. The rapidly growing numbers of private entrepreneurs, the formation of business associations, and the cooperative relationships between entrepreneurs and local officials are seen as initial indicators of a transition from China's still nominally communist political system. This book, first published in 2003, focuses on two related issues: whether the Chinese Communist Party is willing and able to adapt to the economic environment its reforms are bringing about, and whether China's 'red capitalists', private entrepreneurs who also belong to the communist party, are likely to be agents of political change.

Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change

A specialist on Russian politics and society examines the emerging regime in Russia under President Vladimir Putin in the context of hybrid regimes. Eschewing modified variants of both democracy and authoritarianism and the accompanying teleologies, Putin's regime is characterized as "managed pluralism." The model is presented through analysis of policy and practices affecting religion, political parties, the media, labor unions, civil society, business associations, and federal relations.

Managed Pluralism: Vladimir Putin's Emerging Regime

Until relatively recently it was not generally believed that the communist states possessed anything that could properly be called a ‘policy process’. The ruling communist parties, it was believed, simply issued decisions which were then handed over for implementation to the various subordinate bureaucracies — governmental, social and cultured, and economic. Party decisions were binding in all matters of this kind, and they were held to reflect the influence of ideology or of power politics within the leadership, but not, as in a Western country, of individuals or groups outside the leadership or of the institutions responsible for implementing the policies on which the leadership had decided. These institutions, after all, were staffed by communist party members, usually on the advice of the relevant party committee, and there was no shortage of sanctions, from the secret police to the threat of loss of employment, to make sure that they complied with the party’s directives. Policies, moreover, were believed to be relatively simple, the overriding priority being the highest possible rate of economic growth and more particularly of heavy industry. This was clearly close to the view of communist politics held by those who adhered to the totalitarian approach, with its emphasis on party dominance.

The Policy Process

List of Figures and TablesAcknowledgments1. Introduction2. Post-totalitarian Institutionalism3. Historical Context4. North Korea's Political Institutions5. Institutional Jostling for Agenda Control, 1998-20016. Segmenting Policy and Issue Linkages, 2001-20067. Policy Reversals, 2006-20088. ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

/pdf/inside-the-red-box-north-korea-s-post-totalitarian-politics-1isydbu5iq.pdf

Inside the Red Box: North Korea's Post-totalitarian Politics

NT o model of Soviet politics has been as widely accepted among scholars as totalitarianism. An equally broad group of scholars, however, seems convinced of the model's inadequacy, especially for guiding study of the post-Stalin period. Just as Khrushchev put the Soviet Union through a period of de-Stalinization, Western students of Soviet politics have tried to de-totalitarianize their analytical approaches. In place of the cult of the monolith, we have been offered collectives of models, usually in triads. Rigby suggests that "traditional, market, and organizational societies" coexist in the U.S.S.R.1 Inkeles adds the developmental and industrial models to the totalitarian, suggesting that the entire troika is useful.2 As might be expected, the multiple-model approach in Western analysis has proven no more stable than collective leadership in the Kremlin. The struggle for succession to totalitarianism has inevitably included efforts to restore a single-model approach. Notably, Alfred Meyer has made the first strong effort with his "USSR Incorporated," a de-ideologized version of totalitarianism,' but factional support for his perspective has remained amorphous. Skilling's introduction of the interest-group approach, however, seems to have gained significant support in a bid to become the new dominant approachif not displacing the multiple model collective, at least assuming a key position, more or less in phase with the muted neo-Stalinism of Brezhnev's growing grip on the Politburo.4 This conflict of models (including the conflict model)5 is naturally to be welcomed-not least for its promise to end the isolation that has long separated the study of Communist regimes from the more general

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2010066.pdf

A Dissenting View on the Group Approach to Soviet Politics

T HE kaleidoscopic pattern of events in Soviet politics makes analysis of them a hazardous endeavor, but it is imperative to try to interpret the radical change that has come with more than six years of perestroika, punctuated by an abortive coup in August 1991, the recognition of the independence of the former Baltic republics, and the transition from the Soviet Union to a commonwealth of independent states. At the same time, the breakdown of the old political system offers unprecedented opportunities, first, to reassess some of our older analytic concepts and second, to think tentatively about some new approaches. The totalitarian model essentially dominated Western analysis until the early 1960s, when several new paradigms were proposed. T. H. Rigby's "organizational society,"' Alfred Meyer's "USSR, Incorporated" model,2 and Carl Linden's conflict model' were among the first such attempts to reconceptualize Soviet politics. Rigby suggested that political systems can be "traditional" (based on "custom") or "contract" (based on "markets") or "organizational" (based on "command"). And of course, in the developmental process elements of two or all three types may be found in a single polity. The Soviet Union, in his view, "is one of the most highly developed. . . 'organizational' societies." Meyer emphasized the organizational aspect as well, treating the USSR as one big corporation. Both scholars emphasized the continuity of the enormous state role in the economy and society together with the abrupt decline of Stalin's terror. And they were concerned with how power might diffuse within the massive bureaucratic structures. Linden focused exclusively on the changing politics at the top, finding conflict among cliques of leaders that

Soviet Politics and After: Old and New Concepts

policy of peaceful penetration and not annexation, perhaps Japan might not have attacked Port Arthur in early 1904. Liberal and multi-ethnic Harbin was not to last more than two decades. China reclaimed the territory in 1920, only to lose it in 1931 to the Japanese, who, in turn, had to cede the area to China after World War II. In 1949 it became part of Communist China. At present no Russians are left among the population. The author is admirably suited for this project. Obtaining material from archives and libraries in seven countries, he applied his knowledge of Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and European languages to utilize a wealth of primary material. It is also evident from the text that he writes gracefully in English. This historical study should appeal to a broad audience: to urban, diplomatic, military, regional, and railroad historians; to the growing number of those who study Siberia; to demographers and social scientists interested in ethnic and minority interaction; and to humanists and linguists involved in Russian oriental studies (see the Appendix: “Some Notes on Russian Sinology in Beijing, Kazan, St. Petersburg, and Vladivostok, 1715–1899”). Former Russian Harbiners, such as Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, whose incisive introduction betrays nostalgia for his native city, should also discover in this excellent study a meaningful history of their past.

Condemned to Repetition? The Rise, Fall, and Reprise of Soviet-Russian Military Interventionism, 1973–1996. By Andrew Bennett (Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1999) 387 pp. $35.00 cloth $17.50 paper

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A Dissenting View on the Group Approach to Soviet Politics

Soviet Politics and After: Old and New Concepts

Condemned to Repetition? The Rise, Fall, and Reprise of Soviet-Russian Military Interventionism, 1973–1996. By Andrew Bennett (Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1999) 387 pp. $35.00 cloth $17.50 paper