Social Capability, History and the Economies of Communist and Postcommunist States

Studies show that in non-Communist developed and developing countries earlier development of agriculture, a dense population, and a state-level polity is associated with a higher income and more rapid economic growth in the late twentieth century. We investigate whether this was also the case for countries under communism and for the same countries in transition to a market economy. Our findings are generally affirmative, with an interesting pattern for the Eurasian socialist core countries involving higher growth nearer their West European and East Asian poles. We also find that ethnic fractionalization, which is correlated with late premodern development, shows harmful effects in the transition era but not under communism.     

Reconstructing the Role of the Working Class in Communist and Postcommunist Romania

This article examines the position of the industrial working class in Romania before 1989, its role in the overthrow of the communist regime during the December 1989 revolution, and its status during the postcommunist transition to democracy after 1989. The subordination of labor interests by both communist and postcommunist regimes to ideologies that underestimated the issue of class differentiation is emphasized throughout the paper. This analysis is undertaken at two levels, namely, the rewriting of the history of communism after 1989 and the obstacles encountered during the process of democratic transition. The later aspect refers to the problematic relationship between the intellectuals and the working class and labor's lack of involvement in shaping the post-1989 economic and political reforms. The argument that I pursue is that many of the setbacks experienced during the democratization process are partly rooted in the status of labor as an important absentee from the discourse and agenda of both incumbent governments and intellectual elites. It has been a significant factor in pushing the working class towards an illiberal right-wing politics and ideologies of a populist, xenophobic, and anti-intellectual nature.     

Postcommunist divergence: A comparative analysis of the transition to capitalism in Poland and Russia

This article critiques the dominant neoliberal transition paradigm. The implementation of neoliberal reforms in the postcommunist world has fostered the creation of two different types of capitalism. Rather than enabling a transition to Western European-style capitalism, these reforms have produced divergence within the postcommunist world. This article uses comparative firm-level case studies from Russia and Poland to construct a “neoclassical” sociological alternative to neoliberal theory that can explain this divergence. In this account, intra-dominant class structure (the pattern of alliances between the Party bureaucracy, the technocracy, and humanistic intellectuals) at the time of the transition produces different “paths to capitalism,” or policy regimes, which, in turn, have different effects on the ability of firms to restructure. In Russia, this creates a system of “patrimonial capitalism” that will produce long-term economic stagnation. In Poland, a variety of modern rational capitalism emerges. This latter system is distinguished by its very high levels of dependence on capital imports in comparison to the advanced capitalist countries. As a result, this type of economy will be quite vulnerable to economic shocks. Lawrence King is an assistant professor of sociology at Yale University. His book includeThe Basic Features of Postcommunist Capitalism in Eastern Europe (2001) andAssessing New Class Theory (with Ivan Szelenyi, forthcoming). He is currently working on a book entitledPostcommunist Capitalisms. I am grateful for a Yale Junior Faculty Research Fellowship, and the support of the Yale Center for Comparative Research, the Social Science Research Fund at Yale, and the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. I would also like to thank Aleksandra Sznajder and Evgenia Gvozdeva for their invaluable research assistance, and Ivan Szelenyi, Andrew Schrank, Hannah Brueckner, Alison Pollet, and the editors and anonymous reviewers atStudies in Comparative International Development for their comments and suggestions.     

中俄关系中的美国因素

中俄战略协作伙伴关系的建立和发展除了中俄两国的内在需要外,美国的国际战略及其对俄、对华政策产生了巨大影响.美国因素对中俄关系的性质、范围、层次、作用和未来走向有着十分重要的作用.就以往来看,美国因素的影响主要表现在四个方面.目前,美国的对俄、对华政策再次面临调整,受其影响,中俄关系的未来走势有四种可能.     

俄罗斯联邦共产党新党纲述评

2008年11月29—30日,俄罗斯联邦共产党召开了“十三大”,正式通过了新修订的党的纲领。此前的俄共党纲还是1995年“三大”通过的,十多年来国内国际形势和党内党外的情况已发生了很大变化,尤其是普京上台后俄共失去了原有的政治地位,从举足轻重的第一大党沦落为很难在体制内发挥作用的反对党,影响力大大减弱,所以此次俄共的行动纲领有了较大的调整。     

中国道路与中国共产党

近三十多年来,中国的飞速发展引起了海内外的高度关,注,有关中国道路、中国模式的探讨络绎不绝,但是大多数限于对中国改革开放三十多年,至多是对新中国成立六十多年的研究。     

Comparative Institutionalised Bilingualism in Kazan,Russia and Ürümqi,China

Abstract

Based upon interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia) and Ürümqi (Xinjiang, China), the article proposes an explanatory framework consisting of structural and agential factors to address how and why normative and implemented bilingualism may differ across ethnically based autonomous regions. It argues that higher inter-ethnic integration can boost the capacity of titular elites to bargain with the centre, leading to more formal recognition of the titular language, even if not immediately augmenting its use in daily life; conversely, a more pronounced inter-ethnic divide can serve to sustain more vigorous informal use of the titular language, while at the same time impeding improvement of its formal status.     

Authoritarian legality and informal practices: Judges, lawyers and the state in Russia and China

To participate in the global economy authoritarian states are pressed to offer international business a legal order that protects the interests of investors, customers, and sellers, but the creation of a modern legal order threatens to undermine the leaders’ control of public life. An increasingly common way to resolve this dilemma, I argue, is developing formal legal institutions that appear to meet world standards, while using informal practices to maintain control over the administration of justice when needed. In this paper I show how the governments of post-Soviet Russia (with its hybrid or competitive authoritarian regime) and the fully authoritarian People’s Republic of China as well, have used this approach in their relations with judges and defense lawyers in their respective countries. The analysis underscores the utility of investigating informal practices along with the reform of formal legal institutions, especially in the context of transition.     

统一俄罗斯党主席、俄政府总理普京 致中俄执政党对话机制第二次会议的贺信

热烈欢迎各位代表在莫斯科出席由统一俄罗斯党与中国共产党共同举办的俄中执政党对话机制第二次会议。     

古巴共产党与中国共产党:政治互信和互相支持的典范

承认中华人民共和国是新生的古巴革命政权自行使独立主权时起,所采取的最早的行动之一。1960年9月2日,在具有历史意义的哈瓦那革命广场,一百多万古巴人欢呼支持菲德尔·卡斯特罗同志关于古巴与中国这个兄弟国家建立外交关系的提议。同月28日,两国共同发表联合公报,宣布建立外交关系。此举使古巴成为第一个与中华人民共和国建立外交关系的拉美国家。     

中国共产党百年建设实践的科学化发展

中国共产党百年奋斗实践构成一部党的建设科学化发展的历史。把科学化要求植入党的建设,事关马克思主义党建思想的中国化、事关党的建设的与时俱进、事关对马克思主义执政党建设规律的认识和把握、事关党的建设思想向实践的转化,意义十分重大。党的百年建设实践在科学化轨道发展,马克思主义政党的生命力随着党的建设科学化水平的不断提高而日益旺盛。坚持科学化的建设逻辑,驱动着中国共产党在加强自身建设的探索过程中收获了丰硕的理论成果。中国共产党百年建设实践科学化发展积淀的理论和实践成果是一笔宝贵财富,是党团结和带领中国人民在新长征路上砥砺奋进的巨大资源优势。     

Reform,corruption, and growth: Why corruption is more devastating in Russia than in China

This article explains why massive political corruption appears to be incompatible with economic growth in Russia but compatible with very rapid economic growth in China. The common assumption is that corruption is bad for economic performance. So how can we explain the puzzling contrast between Russia and China? Is Russia being more severely “punished” for its corruption than China? If so, why? This article demonstrates that three intervening factors—comparative advantage, the organization of corruption, and the nature of rents—determines the impact of corruption on economic performance, and that these factors can explain the divergent outcomes. The article thereby offers an alternative to statist explanations of the Russia-China paradox.     

Legacies Versus Politics: Herbert Hoover, Partisan Conflict, and the Symbolic Appeal of Associationalism in the 1920s

The concept of a policy legacy has come into widespread use among scholars in history and the social sciences, yet the concept has not been subject to close scrutiny. We suggest that policy legacies tend to underexplain outcomes and minimize conventional politics and historical contingencies. These tendencies are evident in the revisionist literature on American politics in the aftermath of the First World War. That work stresses continuities between wartime mobilization and postwar policy, especially under the auspices of Herbert Hoover and the Commerce Department. We maintain that a rupture marks the transition between the war and the Republican era that followed and that the emphasis on wartime legacies distorts the political realities of the Harding–Coolidge era. We conclude by noting the risks of policy legacy approaches in historical analysis.