ABSTRACT
Unlike its counterparts in the former Soviet Union and East Europe, the Communist Party of China (CCP) has been able to recover from the ravages of the era of Mao Zedong and the shock of the Tiananmen Crisis in 1989. Since the late 1970s the CCP has led China’s remarkable transformation from a backward and largely autarkic economy into the world’s second largest. As a result, the CCP has not only retained its political monopoly but has also been able to rebuild its legitimacy on the basis of rapid economic growth and rising living standards.
