ABSTRACT
The collapse of the Soviet Union had a profound impact on China's thinking about political institutions, political ideology and development. The disastrous consequences for social welfare arising from the collapse of communist party rule in the USSR reinforced China's determination to resist external and internal pressure to institute parliamentary democracy. The dramatic difference in the two communist superpowers' political trajectory has been of incalculable consequence for global political economy in the twenty-first century. The leading Western powers played an important role in the collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and disintegration of the USSR, although it is impossible to quantify the degree of importance. With the collapse of communist party rule, the new Russian leadership under Boris Yeltsin, with close involvement of Western experts, including the Washington Consensus institutions, implemented a comprehensive economic 'Big Bang'.
