The Illusion of Westernisation in Russia and China

Abstract

Russia and China have similar heritages. They were and remain authoritarian martial police states, deviating substantially from the cultural, institutional, and behavioural requirements of efficient democratic free enterprise. Both modernised without westernising (preserving their authoritarian martial police states), but with conspicuously different results. These disparities are catalogued, analysed and attributed to cultural factors inclining Beijing to pursue a disciplined, value-adding development strategy that is nearly the antithesis of Moscow's reliance on natural resource extraction and rent-seeking. China's relative authoritarian success, and its stellar growth performance vis-à-vis western democracies leave open the question of comparative systems merit. Could some authoritarian martial police states be superior to democratic free enterprise as some scholars are beginning to suggest? Close scrutiny indicates that they cannot; that authoritarian systems are crisis prone, dynamically inferior and welfare diminishing after the advantages of relative backwardness have been exhausted in the long run. Comparative Economic Studies (2007) 49, 495–513. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100232