「告別革命」與中國政治研究

Studying Chinese Politics: Farewell to Revolution?

本文對美國的中國政治研究，提供了批判性的觀察視野。作者認為，中國與那些人們通常與他加以比較的國家－－既包括其他共產主義社會和後共產主義社會，也包括其他東亞社會－－明顯不同，作者歸納性地稱之為“中國共產主義政府駕輕就熟、審時度勢的統治技巧”。作者指出，正是中國長期的革命經驗，讓當前的中國領導人得以採取非常管用的“被控制的兩極”式的統治手段。作者也指陳，面對極度混亂的經濟與社會轉型時，當前的中國政權之所以擁有足可維持秩序的能力，正是“革命威權主義”的遺產所致。

This article offers a critical perspective on the field of Chinese politics in the United States. Arguing that China is markedly different from the countries against which it is commonly compared-i.e., other Communist and post-Communist societies as well as other East Asian societies, Perry calls instead for a ”sober assessment of the techniques of rule perfected by the Chinese Communist state.” Chinas long revolutionary experience, she suggests, has bequeathed to todays leaders remarkably effective methods of ”controlled polarization” that serve to divide and rule the society at large. This legacy of ”revolutionary authoritarianism,” she proposes, accounts for the regimes capacity to maintain order in the face of extraordinarily unsettling economic and social change.