ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses the power restructuring in China and Russia. The classic image of power in the Soviet Union and Communist China was that of totalitarianism and the absolute subordination of social forces and politics to the all-powerful leader and all-encompassing state. Even though totalitarian imagery overstated the extent of state control in communist society and interest group imagery erred in the opposite direction, both approaches captured important dimensions of power relations and political process in the Soviet Union and China. The area specialist approach is exemplified in the work of Andrew G. Walder, Barrett L. McCormick, and Jean C. Oi. Specialists in the politics and society of contemporary China, all three focused their analyses on the interaction between state and society, the interplay between the central government and its "agents" at the local level, and the relationship between official "patrons" and their "clients".
