MRP assignment
What am i doing ?
I am comparing the State ideologies of China and Russia in the 21 century. My research question is ; Why did Russian state ideology fail where China’s state ideology succeeded ,in the 21st century .
I will be comparing them both during the 21 century because it was at this time that China began to be the global power it is today and Russia began to lag behind in world politics.
Why do i care about Russia or China ?
I have studied the course Pakistan foreign relations in LUMS and before that I have studied world history in O Levels. It always struck me as odd that both China and Russia where communist countries and yet one became a global power under that ideology while the other receded from the global stage. I know China has capitalist approach towards their economy which has lead to their economy booming but why could Russia not do the same ? What was different. In order to finally put those questions to rest I decided to pick this project as a way to formally find the answers to and satisfy my curiosity.
As i researched this topic i learned several new things .I had approached this project with preconceived notions of Russia and China. I assumed both of them to be have communist ideologies throughout their lifetime and was surprised to realize that before the USSR broke down , its last leader Mikhail Gorbachev was more democratic than he was a communist . Furthermore China considers its economic policies more socialist rather that capitalist. Even though it is very clear ,to me at least, that their economic practices are capitalist in all but name only.
What resources/research will i draw from to substantiate my question ?
1)“The Ideological Roots of Elite Political Conflict in Post-Soviet Russia” talks about the elite political conflicts in post Soviet Russia by looking at its ideological roots. In doing so it explores and defines the ideologies of post soviet Russia , which is what I need for my paper.
Kullberg, J. (1994). The Ideological Roots of Elite Political Conflict in Post-Soviet Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, 46(6), 929–953. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/152888 .
2)“Ideology and Politics in Communist China” talks about the ideologies of communist China all the way form 1920s to the 2010s. It will be my main resources for defining Chinese state ideology in present day.
Steiner, H. (1959). Ideology and Politics in Communist China. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 321, 29–39. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1030977.
3)”Ideology after the end of ideology. China and the quest for autocratic legitimation. Democratization” looks at how China is seeking new ways to legitimize its autocracy. This will be useful in my paper to show how and why the Chinese ideology was successful for China.
Holbig, H. (2013). Ideology after the end of ideology. China and the quest for autocratic legitimation. Democratization, 20(1), 61–81. doi:10.1080/13510347.2013.738862
4)“ What Has Russia Become? Comparative Politics” is talking about Russian ideology and how it has recently come into prominence again in world politics. But it also cautions that the policies being pursued such as predatory economic practices will create vulnerabilities in the system. I will be focusing on these vulnerabilities to support my main argument of why Russian ideology has failed.
Fish, M. (2018). What Has Russia Become? Comparative Politics, 50(3), 327–346. doi:10.2307/26532689
5)The “China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative.” news article talks about the Belt road initiative. A Chinese economic policy with a total of about 4–8 trillion dollars of budget. China’s economic power and its ability to spread its influence by utilizing the economic power for projects such as the belt road initiative will be a key measuring stick I will use to assess Chinas success and Russia’s failure.
Chatzky, Andrew, and James McBride. (2020) “China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative.
6)“The Chinese Cultural Revolution Revisited” studies and establishes the relationship between Mao’s political and ideological discourse manifested and practiced in the Cultural Revolution and the transformation of China’s political economy in the present era. I will be focusing on the relationship between ideology and the success of Chinas economy.
Li, X. (2001). The Chinese Cultural Revolution Revisited. China Review, 1(1), 137–165. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23461931
7)“The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” talks about competitive authoritarianism. A key component of why I believe Chinese State ideology succeed where the Russian state ideology failed.
Levitsky, Steven, And Way, Lucan A., 2002. “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy, 13:2, 51- 65
8)“The Comparative Politic of Covid 19 ; the Need to Understand Government Responses .” discusses different government responses to covid 19. I will focus on an authoritarian regimes response and Chinas response it particular.
Scott L., Elizabeth J., Elize M., Andre P.,(2020).“The Comparative Politic of Covid 19 ; the Need to Understand Government Responses .” Global Public Health, vol. 15, no. 09
9)“Political Development and Political Decay,” talks about hybrid regimes. China is one. So I will use it to explore and elaborate the Chinese regime .
Samuel P. Huntington, “Political Development and Political Decay,” World Politics, Vol. 17, №3 (1965), pp. 386–430.
What have i learned from the course thus far ?
I originally assumed that comparative politics was a kind subfield of international relations. Because the comparative part brought up the idea of comparing different political systems between countries and within countries. I now know that comparative politics and international relations are completely sperate subfields of politics and international relations just borrows insights from comparative politics to further its claims. Also while i have heard of annotated bibliographies before this is the first time i am properly making one. So this course also added another skill into my research tools.
