The International Environment and China's Twin Models of Development

Book excerpt: Mao's twin political-cum-economic development models did not evolve alone from the internal environment. Rather they were historically constructed in relation to the developments in the Sino-US and Sino-USSR relations. This work traces the complex role that these relations had in the formation of Mao's worldview of the West and the Soviet Union as a hostile international environment. The author looks at the intricate interactions between China and each of the twin superpowers (or both in unison), Mao's leadership and the masses, and his development model during his time as well as the post-Mao's development model he created (in a favourable international environment starting) in 1971. The book seeks to explain how political, economic, and cultural changes were produced through various processes of interactions, whether (the Great Leap Forward), the Cultural Revolution, (the present on-going) modernization revolution, trade, or global participation.