The Political System of Modern China and the Typology of Communist Regimes

Abstract

The article analyzes the nature of the political system of modern China in the context of the typology of communist political regimes. The author argues that the typologies of communist regimes proposed so far are of little use, since the differences between the regimes were not considered deeply enough, while the ideology factor was not actually used as a criterion for typological differences. The article proposes a new typology of communist regimes, in which the ideological factor is the key criterion. Based on the analysis of various communist regimes in accordance with the ideological criterion, the author identifies three main types of communist regimes: left-communist, right-communist and bureaucratic, and defines the current Chinese regime as evolving from right-communist to bureaucratic. The author concludes that the Chinese political experiment deserves close study and a departure from the West-centric cliches that still dominate world political science and historical science, and the new typology of communist regimes can serve as a useful tool both for its analysis and for clarifying the prospects for China's development.