Skip to main content
Support
Event

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

Martin K. Dimitrov, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, will speak on the puzzling durability of communist autocracies in Eastern Europe and Asia, the the longest-lasting type of non-democratic regime to emerge after World War I.

Date & Time

Thursday
Oct. 3, 2013
2:30pm – 4:00pm ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
Get Directions

Overview

Martin K. Dimitrov, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University and editor of Why Communism Did Not Collapse, will speak on the puzzling durability of communist autocracies in Eastern Europe and Asia, the the longest-lasting type of non-democratic regime to emerge after World War I.

Why Communism Did Not Collapse 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. By conducting systematic paired comparisons of the European and Asian cases and by developing arguments that encompass both collapse and resilience, the volume offers a new methodological approach for studying communist autocracies.

Joining Dimitrov on the panel as chair and moderator is James Person, Senior Program Associate with the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program.

Martin K. Dimitrov is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University. He is also an associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and a research fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. Dimitrov has previously taught at Dartmouth College and has held residential fellowships at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and the American Academy in Berlin. He is the author of Piracy and the State: The Politics of Intellectual Property Rights in China (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Tagged


Hosted By

Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

Indo-Pacific Program

The Indo-Pacific Program promotes policy debate and intellectual discussions on US interests in the Asia-Pacific as well as political, economic, security, and social issues relating to the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region.   Read more

Global Europe Program

The Global Europe Program addresses vital issues affecting the European continent, US-European relations, and Europe’s ties with the rest of the world. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues: digital transformation, climate, migration, global governance. We also examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our program activities cover a wide range of topics, from the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE to European energy security, trade disputes, challenges to democracy, and counter-terrorism. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media.  Read more

Thank you for your interest in this event. Please send any feedback or questions to our Events staff.