Socialism Vanquished, Socialism Challenged Eastern Europe and China, 1989-2009

by Bandelj, Nina; Solinger, Dorothy J.

• ISBN13: 9780199895960
• ISBN10: 0199895961
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Socialism Vanquished, Socialism Challengedexamines the twenty-year aftermath of the 1989 assaults on established, state-sponsored socialism in the former Soviet bloc and in China. Editors Nina Bandelj and Dorothy J. Solinger bring together prominent experts on Eastern Europe and China to examine the respective trajectories of political, economic, and social transformations that unfolded in these two areas, while also comparing the changes that ensued within the two regions. The volume features paired comparisons, with one chapter on the countries from the former Soviet bloc and one on China for each of the following themes: the reinstitutionalization of politics, the recasting of state-society relations, the reform of economic systems, changes in economic behavior, and transformations of social institutions. Despite differences in the specific substantive focus and disciplinary grounding among individual chapters, all chapters share a concern with the fate of the state in postsocialism. They elaborate on topics such as the transformations of the old socialist state and its nature, activities and roles; civil society before and after 1989; the ways in which the state has, or has not, acted to encourage new forms of economic behavior; and the state's responsibility for societal trends, whether in family formation, in protest or in inequality. Taking a unique approach to understand twentieth-century socialism on a global scale,Socialism Vanquished,Socialism Challengeduncovers insights about political models and economic patterns that have emerged in the grand project of the transition from socialism.

Author Biography

Nina Bandelj is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Dorothy Solinger is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
About the Contributors	p. ix
Introduction: Postsocialist Trajectories in Comparative Perspective	p. 1
Reinstitutionalizing Politics
1989 and Its Aftermath: Two Waves of Democratic Change in Postcommunist Europe and Eurasia	p. 23
China Politics 20 Years Later	p. 44
Recasting State-Society Relations
Postsocialist Cleansing in Eastern Europe: Purity and Danger in Transitional Justice	p. 63
Responsive Authoritarianism and Blind-Eye Governance in China	p. 83
Reforming Economic Systems
Notes on the Geopolitical Economy of Post-State Socialism	p. 103
The 1989 Watershed in China: How the Dynamics of Economic Transition Changed	p. 125
Transforming Economic Behavior
The Rise of Consumer Credit in the Postcommunist Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland	p. 149
Financing Constraints on the Private Sector in Postsocialist China	p. 176
Reshaping Social Institutions
Changing Family Formation Behavior in Postsocialist Countries: Similarities, Divergences, and Explanations	p. 195
Communist Resilience: Institutional Adaptations in Post-Tiananmen China	p. 219
Postscript: The Fate of the State after 1989: Eastern Europe and China Compared	p. 238
Index	p. 247
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