Post-Mao China's Development Model in Global Perspective

Abstract

This essay is a preliminary normative analysis of the meaning and implications of post-Mao China's entry into the capitalist world-economy. In assessing the nature and extent of shift in the Chinese model of development in global perspective, there is need to focus more on international than on domestic aspects. Specifically, this essay is concerned with the following issues. What are the contending models of the global political economy that can be used as a theoretical frame of reference for macro-inquiry into model shift into the post-Mao era? What were the central characteristic features of the Chinese model during the Maoist era, and to what extent, and in what manner, have they been retained, revised, or repudiated in the post- Mao era? What are the explanatory variables for shifts in the political economy of post-Mao China? By way of conclusion, some normative and policy implications of the shifts and changes initiated by the post-Mao leadership are suggested.