Why Communism Did Not Collapse
Understanding Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Asia and Europe

Addresses the durability of communist autocracies in Eastern Europe and Asia, the longest-lasting type of non-democratic regime to emerge after World War I.

Martin K. Dimitrov (Edited by)

9781107035539, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 July 2013

390 pages, 6 b/w illus. 7 tables
22.9 x 15 x 2 cm, 0.7 kg

“Communism has a past, but does it have a future? In this fascinating study, Martin Dimitrov has assembled an impressive set of leading international scholars to examine the staying power of the communist party-states that weathered the 1989–1991 denouement of the Soviet Union and its client states. The result is a theoretically insightful and empirically rich study in comparative politics and Leninist style systems. The volume leaves the reader with the sense that we have not seen the end of collapsing communist-type regimes.” – David Shambaugh, The George Washington University and The Brookings Institution

This volume brings together a distinguished group of scholars working to address the puzzling durability of communist autocracies in Eastern Europe and Asia, which are the longest-lasting type of non-democratic regime to emerge after World War I. The volume conceptualizes the communist universe as consisting of the ten regimes in Eastern Europe and Mongolia that eventually collapsed in 1989–91, and the five regimes that survived the fall of the Berlin Wall: China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea and Cuba. The essays offer a theoretical argument that emphasizes the importance of institutional adaptations as a foundation of communist resilience. In particular, the contributors focus on four adaptations: of the economy, of ideology, of the mechanisms for inclusion of potential rivals, and of the institutions of vertical and horizontal accountability. The volume argues that when regimes are no longer able to implement adaptive change, contingent leadership choices and contagion dynamics make collapse more likely.

Part I. Reform and Resilience: 1. Understanding communist collapse and resilience Martin K. Dimitrov
2. Resilience and collapse in China and the Soviet Union Thomas Bernstein
Part II. Ideology and Resilience: 3. Ideological erosion and the breakdown of communist regimes Vladimir Tismaneanu
4. Ideological introversion and regime survival: North Korea's 'our-style socialism' Charles Armstrong
Part III. Contagion and Resilience: 5. Bringing down dictators: waves of democratic change in communist and postcommunist Europe and Eurasia Valerie J. Bunce and Sharon L. Wolchik
6. The dynamics of contagion in the Soviet Bloc and the impact on regime survival Mark Kramer
Part IV. Inclusion and Resilience: 7. Authoritarian survival, resilience, and the selectorate theory Mary Gallagher and Jonathan Hanson
8. Cause or consequence? Private-sector development and communist resilience in China Kellee S. Tsai
Part V. Accountability and Resilience: 9. Vietnam through Chinese eyes: divergent accountability in single-party regimes Regina Abrami, Edmund Malesky and Yu Zheng
10. Vertical accountability in communist regimes: the role of citizen complaints in Bulgaria and China Martin K. Dimitrov
11. Conclusion: whither communist regime resilience Martin K. Dimitrov.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Marxism & Communism [JPFC], Comparative politics [JPB]