ABSTRACT
Social unrest, particularly that which includes democratic movements, is a key variable in the democratic transition process, for it bolsters the position of reformist factions within the authoritarian regime. Social unrest is often caused by cracks in the coercive apparatus and by a crisis of confidence in government—popular dissatisfaction with the state’s moral authority or with its effectiveness in achieving economic growth, social justice, social order, or political stability. This chapter analyzes ways in which the Chinese Communist Party has maintained public order or social control since 1989, in contrast to the collapse of Communist Party rule in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev. Like the People’s Republic of China during the Deng and post-Deng eras, the former U.S.S.R. during the glasnost period was a large and complex communist society undergoing economic and political change, and one that relied predominantly upon internal sources of control rather than outside military forces. This chapter explains how differences between the two countries in both methods of control and social, economic, and political conditions help to explain China’s relative success at garnering compliance.
