The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the dawn of Chinese economic reform under Deng Xiaoping in 1978 promised to produce somewhat parallel long-term results for two of the world’s largest economies. Although China and Russia mirrored each other in the nature of the transitions they were undertaking at the time, their trajectories for future economic and political change are now diverging. Despite the fact that both China and post-soviet Russia would ultimately tip the scale away from central economic planning toward market based systems and global integration, the approaches and circumstances surrounding these economic shifts are completely different. Initially, Russia’s implementation of “shock therapy” under Yeltsin in 1992 sought immediate trade liberalization and large-scale privatization, implemented rapidly. Contrastingly, in China, over a decade earlier, the market transition had begun in a piecemeal way, by no means apart from the party’s existing political apparatus, which endowed the process with a greater sense of stability. Undoubtedly, though Russia and China had many similar objectives as they emerged from eras of deeply planned economy, opposing approaches to change as well as innate geopolitical, ideological, and demographic differences exacerbates their vastly different landscapes in the 21st century with respect to society, economy, and the interplay of government with these forces.
Contrasting economic and political preconditions set the stage for divergence in terms of how Russia and China evolved out of communism at the end of the 20th century. Undoubtedly, Russia and China shared (and still share) a strong, inherited tradition of deference to the state. Throughout the century, both governments esse...
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... nations have emerged from the transition toward global capitalism as more robust yet fundamentally different in terms of the problems they face and the governments that rule them. Yet neither Russia nor China has fully embraced the values and institutions of the Washington Consensus – the conviction that the optimal economic policy is one of free trade, the withdrawal of government regulation, and the privatization of state owned enterprises. Even more importantly, they do not corroborate the thesis that globalization gives rise to democratization. In sum, Russia and China, as post-communist nations that once faced similar transitions but quickly diverged in their approaches to economic and political change, occupy very different niches as global economies and face unique economic, social, and political problems today if they wish to maintain sustainable growth.
Following the Chinese Revolution of 1949, China’s economy was in ruin. The new leader, Mao Zedong, was responsible for pulling the economy out of the economic depression. The problems he faced included the low gross domestic product, high inflation, high unemployment, and high prices on goods. In order to solve these issues, Mao sought to follow a more Marxist model, similar to that of the Soviet Union. This was to use government intervention to develop industry in China. In Jan Wong’s Red China Blues, discusses Maoism and how Mao’s policies changed China’s economy for the worse. While some of Mao’s early domestic policies had some positive effects on China’s economy, many of his later policies caused China’s economy to regress.
The Legacy of Russia and the Soviet Union - Authoritarian and Repressive Traditions that Refuse to Die
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
Much of Western Europe quickly industrialized after Great Britain. If they did not, they were immediately outclassed by the British in trade and military strength. Industrialization made good use of the natural resources in a state. Some nations industrialized a while after Great Britain and were falling behind. Two of these states were Russia and Japan. These countries experienced change in governments, economic power, and social structure as a result of industrialization. Yet, these states went through their industrializations in very different ways than each other.
During the twentieth century, China developed the strongest economy throughout the world. The mass population of the Chinese people helped in the production in goods which in tailed helped China’s economy grow. Russia was not far behind China after the Industrial revolution, Russia needed a plan if they were going to catch up to China. China was relying on the exporting of goods and long term goals for profit. Russia focused on Five-Year Plans, “the form of economy worked for communism, consistently appealing to the intellectuals of developing countries in Asia” (Paul Craig Roberts 2). The Industrial Revolution had helped the growth of both China and Russia’s economy throughout the Twentieth
Fan, G., and X. Zhang. "How Can Developing Countries Benefit from Globalization: The Case of China." Eldis. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Khrushchev, Nikita. “De-Stalinization speech.” Revolutions in Russia and China. 4th ed Ed. June Grasso et al. New York: McGaw-Hill. 2000. 75-90
Friedberg introduces the root of China’s rise to post Cold-War, when China’ economy began to grow and expand rapidly under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. Though their process of growth and rise to power has been marked by “a mix of insecurity
Russia, a vast country with a wealth of natural resources, a well, educated population, and diverse industrial base, continues to experience, formidable difficulties in moving from its old centrally planned economy to a modern market economy. President Yeltsin's government has made substantial strides in converting to a market economy since launching its economic reform program in January 1992 by freeing nearly all prices, slashing defense spending, eliminating the old centralized distribution system, completing an ambitious voucher privatization program, establishing private financial institutions, and decentralizing trade. Russia, however, has made little progress in a number of key areas that are needed to provide a solid foundation for the transition to a market economy.
Zheng, Y. (2004). Globalization and state transformation in China . New York: Cambridge University Press.
The Soviet Union was a communist state before it fell apart in the early 1990’s. Communist political economy shaped the direction of the nation’s industrial development. Industrialization contributed to increases in Soviet wealth, but only for those favored by the communist regime. Working Soviets were left poor. This form of communism came to be because of the Russian Revolution and was based on the idea that all people are equal. While being a great idea in theory, it did not work out in the real world. Soviet-style industrialization was about earning money quickly and in an efficient manner, the officials implemented the idea that “everyone should be the master in his own house”, and they achieved great power and money.
And as China transforms its economy into a ‘socialist market economy’ it is held that the attendant social, economic, and political transformations necessitate that its state controlled IRs system is decentralized and more so, it should be converge with international best practice IR standards (Zhu, Warner, & Feng, 2011). Although the Chinese government has endeavored to reform its labor market, the “deep-rooted national culture and its long history of centralized state power” as exhibited by the tenets of the all-powerful All-China Federation of Trade Unions1925 (ACFTU), has meant that any initiated IRs reform should be “with Chinese Characteristics” (p.128). It is important to note in the 1980/90s most countries in the Western hemisphere and Asia restructured their IRs systems. This episode can be attributed to factors specific to these countries; but owing to the fact that most of Asia’s economies are linked to the global economy, it is posited that this process may not have been coincidental but it was occasioned by competitive pressures in the global labor market (Kuruvilla & Erickson,
When the new Chinese Government was set up in 1949, the new government faced a lot of problems. First on their agenda was how to re-build the country. As Communist Party of China (CPC) is a socialist party, their policies at the time were similar to that of the Soviet Union’s. Consequently, the CPC used a centrally planned strategy as its economic strategy when it first began. For a long time, the Chinese economy was a centrally planned economy in which none other than the state owned all companies. In fact, there were absolutely no entrepreneurs. As time went on, the problems of a centrally planned economy started to appear, such as low productivity, which was the key reason for restricting the development of China. With the population growing, the limitations of the centrally planned economy were clear. In 1978 China started its economic reform whose goal was to generate sufficient surplus value to finance the modernization of the Chinese economy. In the beginning, in the late 1970s and early 19...
Following the Great Recession, the world has been facing complex global transformations. Dani Rodrik’s “The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy” portrays the challenges of the implications that our current model of globalization relies upon. Rodrik’s work reveals both the implications and connections of the relationships between markets, the states, and globalization in the currently changing world. Throughout the book, Rodrik argues the validity of five key points: markets require regulatory institutions, such institutions take on a variety of forms, societies should orient their market-supporting institutions to their own unique needs, markets that are responsive to democracy can avoid institutional convergence, and a world that is responsive to democracy will not reach full globalization. This book has made me question the long term sustainability of the already evolving economic globalization process. Rodrik explains that the process of globalization must be managed so that the entire world can benefit.
It is difficult to conclude anything other than that the alliance between the PRC and the Soviet Union was chiefly born out of necessity. Certainly, the common ideology and revolutionary nature of the CCP allowed for a collective understanding that sometimes amalgamated into shared objectives. Even so, PRC actions suggest an appeasement rather than a genuine alignment with the Soviet Union. Accordingly, Beijing and Moscow appear reluctant allies, with a hint of the Prisoner’s Dilemma to their alliance – each, though particularly the PRC, facing deleterious consequences by pursuing an independent path.In cooperating, the PRC were able to build their state and counterbalancing the perceived US threat.