Les incertitudes de l'ère post-maoïste

In: Politique étrangère: revue trimestrielle publiée par l'Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Band 44, Heft 2, S. 205-214

Abstract

The uncertainty of the post-Maoist era, by Marie-Claire Bergère
The presence of Mao Zedong at the head of the Chinese Communist Party transformed a classic type bureaucracy into an aleatory one, both unforeseeable and arbitrary. Mao did not succeed in setting up a personal despotic regime. The struggle between Mao and the forces which seek to neutralise him, make the regime unstable. Three years after Mao's death, the political forces regained their equilibrium with Deng Xiaoping, though not without a certain opposition. Faction strife influences the relationship between government and those governed and dissension leads to a climate of anarchy, particularly agitated in the towns: political opening did not have the desired effect on the town masses. The urgent need for economic development cannot neglect the aim of a classless society, but the persistence of the Maoist utopia hinders the development of accelerated industrialisation. The contradiction between utopia and development assumes an explosive nature in China.