Adapting or Freezing? Ideological Reactions of Communist Regimes to a Post-Communist World

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Alexander Dukalskis
  • Johannes Gerschewski

External Research Organisations

  • University College Dublin
  • Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin)
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)511-522
Number of pages12
JournalGovernment and Opposition
Volume55
Issue number3
Early online date27 Nov 2018
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024
Externally publishedYes

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

Cite this

Adapting or Freezing? Ideological Reactions of Communist Regimes to a Post-Communist World. / Dukalskis, Alexander; Gerschewski, Johannes.
In: Government and Opposition, Vol. 55, No. 3, 10.2024, p. 511-522.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Dukalskis A, Gerschewski J. Adapting or Freezing? Ideological Reactions of Communist Regimes to a Post-Communist World. Government and Opposition. 2024 Oct;55(3):511-522. Epub 2018 Nov 27. doi: 10.1017/gov.2018.40
Dukalskis, Alexander ; Gerschewski, Johannes. / Adapting or Freezing? Ideological Reactions of Communist Regimes to a Post-Communist World. In: Government and Opposition. 2024 ; Vol. 55, No. 3. pp. 511-522.
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