Details
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 511-522 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Government and Opposition |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 27 Nov 2018 |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
This article studies the ideological reactions of communist regimes to the advent of a post-communist world. It examines two cases of reformed communist regimes (China and Vietnam) with two relatively unreformed cases (North Korea and Cuba) to understand different legitimation strategies employed during and after the downfall of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, the article compares two ideal-type approaches to ideology in autocratic regimes. The first approach emphasizes semantic 'freezing' over time. The consistency and coherence of ideology is underlined. The second approach argues that the success of an ideology lies in its ability to be a dynamic, adaptive force that can react with changing circumstances. Four parameters help to distinguish the freeze-frame end from the adaptation pole: (1) the autonomy over semantic changes, (2) the timing, (3) the velocity and (4) the distance that an ideology moves. Using qualitative case-based analysis that is enriched with quantitative text analysis of communist party documents, this article compares these contending conceptions of ideology with each other in the four cases. Sharing similar starting conditions in the 1970s, the article shows how China and Vietnam harnessed a flexible legitimation strategy while North Korea and Cuba adopted a comparatively rigid legitimation approach.
Keywords
- authoritarianism, China, communism, Cuba, ideology, legitimation, North Korea, Vietnam
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Sociology and Political Science
- Social Sciences(all)
- Public Administration
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In: Government and Opposition, Vol. 55, No. 3, 10.2024, p. 511-522.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Adapting or Freezing? Ideological Reactions of Communist Regimes to a Post-Communist World
AU - Dukalskis, Alexander
AU - Gerschewski, Johannes
N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank Orla Ni Cheallachain (UCD), Jirka Lewandowski (Berlin Social Science Centre, WZB) and Francois-Xavier Lefebure (UCD) for excellent research assistance. We acknowledge with gratitude financial support for research and/or dissemination from the UCD College of Human Sciences Research Fund, the School of Politics & International Relations Research Committee, the German Research Network ‘External Democracy Promotion’ of the Leibniz Association, and the WZB.
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - This article studies the ideological reactions of communist regimes to the advent of a post-communist world. It examines two cases of reformed communist regimes (China and Vietnam) with two relatively unreformed cases (North Korea and Cuba) to understand different legitimation strategies employed during and after the downfall of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, the article compares two ideal-type approaches to ideology in autocratic regimes. The first approach emphasizes semantic 'freezing' over time. The consistency and coherence of ideology is underlined. The second approach argues that the success of an ideology lies in its ability to be a dynamic, adaptive force that can react with changing circumstances. Four parameters help to distinguish the freeze-frame end from the adaptation pole: (1) the autonomy over semantic changes, (2) the timing, (3) the velocity and (4) the distance that an ideology moves. Using qualitative case-based analysis that is enriched with quantitative text analysis of communist party documents, this article compares these contending conceptions of ideology with each other in the four cases. Sharing similar starting conditions in the 1970s, the article shows how China and Vietnam harnessed a flexible legitimation strategy while North Korea and Cuba adopted a comparatively rigid legitimation approach.
AB - This article studies the ideological reactions of communist regimes to the advent of a post-communist world. It examines two cases of reformed communist regimes (China and Vietnam) with two relatively unreformed cases (North Korea and Cuba) to understand different legitimation strategies employed during and after the downfall of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, the article compares two ideal-type approaches to ideology in autocratic regimes. The first approach emphasizes semantic 'freezing' over time. The consistency and coherence of ideology is underlined. The second approach argues that the success of an ideology lies in its ability to be a dynamic, adaptive force that can react with changing circumstances. Four parameters help to distinguish the freeze-frame end from the adaptation pole: (1) the autonomy over semantic changes, (2) the timing, (3) the velocity and (4) the distance that an ideology moves. Using qualitative case-based analysis that is enriched with quantitative text analysis of communist party documents, this article compares these contending conceptions of ideology with each other in the four cases. Sharing similar starting conditions in the 1970s, the article shows how China and Vietnam harnessed a flexible legitimation strategy while North Korea and Cuba adopted a comparatively rigid legitimation approach.
KW - authoritarianism
KW - China
KW - communism
KW - Cuba
KW - ideology
KW - legitimation
KW - North Korea
KW - Vietnam
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057582264&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/gov.2018.40
DO - 10.1017/gov.2018.40
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85057582264
VL - 55
SP - 511
EP - 522
JO - Government and Opposition
JF - Government and Opposition
SN - 0017-257X
IS - 3
ER -