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Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China After Stalin and Mao
"Joseph Torigian's stellar research and personal interviews have produced a brilliant, meticulous study. It fundamentally undermines what political scientists have presumed to be the way Chinese Communist and Soviet politics operate."--Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine
"[Torigian's] work is absolutely outstanding."--Stephen Kotkin, ChinaTalk
The political successions in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao, respectively, are often explained as triumphs of inner-party democracy, leading to a victory of "reformers" over "conservatives" or "radicals." In traditional thinking, Leninist institutions provide competitors a mechanism for debating policy and making promises, stipulate rules for leadership selection, and prevent the military and secret police from playing a coercive role. Here, Joseph Torigian argues that the post-cult of personality power struggles in history's two greatest Leninist regimes were instead shaped by the politics of personal prestige, historical antagonisms, backhanded political maneuvering, and violence. Mining newly discovered material from Russia and China, Torigian challenges the established historiography and suggests a new way of thinking about the nature of power in authoritarian regimes.
Book Details
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publish Date: May 10th, 2022
- Pages: 312
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.30in - 6.20in - 0.90in - 1.41lb
- EAN: 9780300254235
- Categories: • Modern - 20th Century - General• Asia - China• Russia - General
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About the Author
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What people are saying
"An extraordinary account of high politics in China over the last half-century that illustrates, with really exceptional archival documentation, how Chinese politics has shifted and the key drivers in it... very useful to understand how it is that Chinese leaders make decisions."
The Asia Program @TheWilsonCenter for Scholars. Experts and events on Pakistan, Japan, India, and more. RTs/follows ≠ endorsements
TOMORROW: We're hosting a live webcast with author @JosephTorigian discussing his book Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion the politics of succession in the Soviet Union and China. RSVP today: https://t.co/9UHLVPkweX https://t.co/RWKUnLMnsp
Congressionally Chartered. Scholarship Driven. Fiercely Nonpartisan. #WilsonSmart
[EVENT] “Book Talk: Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion" 🗓 Date: Wednesday, April 12 🕒 Time: 1:00pm-2:00pm ET 📍 Location: Webcast 🎤 Hosted by: @AsiaProgram and @KissingerInst RSVP ⬇️ https://t.co/ifoPK9pWVn https://t.co/LxiDwWDcL6
Praise for this book
"Do read Torigian's Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion. . . . It's great."--Stuart Lau, Politico
"Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion . . . is . . . useful for those interested in understanding how actors in Leninist systems fight for power."--Martin Laflamme, Los Angeles Review of Books
"[Torigian's] ambitious first book re-examines critical junctures in Soviet and Chinese history, putting up a revisionist case against the consensus view of Deng Xiaoping and Nikita Khrushchev as reformers."--John Delury, Global Asia
"[S]pecialists will find much to ponder in this careful, detailed examination of a critical question in the functioning of authoritarian regimes."--Mary Elise Sarotte, Engelsberg Ideas
"[A] thought-provoking, rigorous contribution to the literature on elite politics under authoritarianism. . . . This book deserves to be widely read by scholars and students of Soviet and Chinese politics, communism, and authoritarianism in general."--Cheng Chen, Russian Review
"[Torigian's] work is absolutely outstanding."--Stephen Kotkin, ChinaTalk
"The book makes a compelling case for the value of Sino-Soviet-Russian comparisons. . . . Must-reading for social scientists. . . . A major achievement."--Thomas P. Bernstein, China Journal
"[A] detailed account of the internal battles at pivotal historical moments in two Leninist systems. . . . [Torigian's] reconstructions of the politics behind ideological debates are impressive."--Andrew Batson, Tangled Woof (blog)
"It is a treat to read Torigian's masterful work. . . . He convincingly argues an against-the-grain proof that in post-Stalin Soviet Union and post-Mao China, policy differences were exaggerated and secondary to personal histories and grievances in elite power struggles. Torigian's twin case studies demonstrate that Leninist political systems are marred by weak institutionalization and a constant struggle over dominance."--Emily Jin, Center for a New American Security, "Best of 2022"
"Joseph Torigian's stellar research and personal interviews have produced a brilliant, meticulous study. It fundamentally undermines what political scientists have presumed to be the way Chinese Communist and Soviet politics operate."--Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine
"Joseph Torigian combines history and political science in a remarkably acute and innovative study of leadership politics in the Soviet Union and China. It will help us understand authoritarian regimes today."--David Holloway, Stanford University
What people are saying
"An extraordinary account of high politics in China over the last half-century that illustrates, with really exceptional archival documentation, how Chinese politics has shifted and the key drivers in it... very useful to understand how it is that Chinese leaders make decisions."
The Asia Program @TheWilsonCenter for Scholars. Experts and events on Pakistan, Japan, India, and more. RTs/follows ≠ endorsements
TOMORROW: We're hosting a live webcast with author @JosephTorigian discussing his book Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion the politics of succession in the Soviet Union and China. RSVP today: https://t.co/9UHLVPkweX https://t.co/RWKUnLMnsp
