China's Rise, Russia's Fall

This text is an attempt to analyze systematically the contrast in the results of post-Stalinist reform in China and Russia. It argues that there emerged a "transition orthodoxy" about how to reform the communist systems of political economy. However, it was deeply flawed. The advice which flowed from this orthodoxy was the primary cause of the Soviet disaster. The decision not to follow it was the main reason for China's enormous success in its reform programme.