Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion

Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao

Joseph Torigian author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Yale University Press

Published:12th Jul '22

£50.00

Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.

Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion cover

How succession in authoritarian regimes was less a competition of visions for the future and more a settling of scores
 
“Joseph Torigian’s stellar research and personal interviews have produced a brilliant, meticulous study. It fundamentally undermines what political scientists have presumed to be the way Chinese Communist and Soviet politics operate.”—Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine
 
“[Torigian’s] work is absolutely outstanding.”—Stephen Kotkin, ChinaTalk
 
The political successions in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao, respectively, are often explained as triumphs of inner-party democracy, leading to a victory of “reformers” over “conservatives” or “radicals.” In traditional thinking, Leninist institutions provide competitors a mechanism for debating policy and making promises, stipulate rules for leadership selection, and prevent the military and secret police from playing a coercive role. Here, Joseph Torigian argues that the post-cult of personality power struggles in history’s two greatest Leninist regimes were instead shaped by the politics of personal prestige, historical antagonisms, backhanded political maneuvering, and violence. Mining newly discovered material from Russia and China, Torigian challenges the established historiography and suggests a new way of thinking about the nature of power in authoritarian regimes.

“[Torigian] is less interested in coalitions than the mechanics of transfers. Challenging conventional analyses of how authoritarian leaders are chosen, he argues that factors such as ideology and patronage matter less than brass-knuckle tactics.”—Ian Johnson, New York Review of Books

“Do read Torigian’s Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion. . . . It’s great.”—Stuart Lau, Politico

Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion . . . is . . . useful for those interested in understanding how actors in Leninist systems fight for power.”—Martin Laflamme, Los Angeles Review of Books

“[Torigian’s] ambitious first book re-examines critical junctures in Soviet and Chinese history, putting up a revisionist case against the consensus view of Deng Xiaoping and Nikita Khrushchev as reformers.”—John Delury, Global Asia

“[S]pecialists will find much to ponder in this careful, detailed examination of a critical question in the functioning of authoritarian regimes.”—Mary Elise Sarotte, Engelsberg Ideas

“[A] thought-provoking, rigorous contribution to the literature on elite politics under authoritarianism. . . . This book deserves to be widely read by scholars and students of Soviet and Chinese politics, communism, and authoritarianism in general.”—Cheng Chen, Russian Review

“A careful and systematic comparison of the dynamics of leadership transition in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and post-Mao China.”—Peter Rutland, Political Science Quarterly

“[Torigian’s] work is absolutely outstanding.”—Stephen Kotkin, ChinaTalk

“The book makes a compelling case for the value of Sino-Soviet-Russian comparisons. . . . Must-reading for social scientists. . . . A major achievement.”—Thomas P. Bernstein, China Journal

“Joseph Torigian makes a major contribution to the literature on authoritarian politics.”—Victor Shih, China Quarterly

“There is much to ponder . . . [in] the novelty, analytical rigour and excellence of what is a demanding comparative study.”—S. A. Smith, Slavonic and Eastern European Review

“The best account of the transition from Mao to Hua to Deng is Joseph Torigian’s book Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion.”—Neil Thomas, Asia Society Policy Institute

“Joseph Torigian’s stellar research and personal interviews have produced a brilliant, meticulous study. It fundamentally undermines what political scientists have presumed to be the way Chinese Communist and Soviet politics operate.”—Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine

“Joseph Torigian combines history and political science in a remarkably acute and innovative study of leadership politics in the Soviet Union and China. It will help us understand authoritarian regimes today.”—David Holloway, Stanford University

ISBN: 9780300254235

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

312 pages