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7. Communist revolutions: Russia, China, and Cuba
Jack A. Goldstone
in Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction
‘Communist revolutions: Russia, China, and Cuba’ describes the wave of Karl Marx-inspired communist revolutions that swept through the mainly agrarian states outside of Europe. The Russian ...
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1. Introduction: China’s unfinished revolution
Richard Curt Kraus
in The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
‘Introduction: China's unfinished revolution’ provides a general overview of the Cultural Revolution. Chinese revolutions had favoured modernism over Confucianism since the formation of the ...
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Dynasty: A Very Short Introduction
Jeroen Duindam
Bloodlines have been held as virtually unassailable credentials for leadership, with supreme political power perceived as a family affair across the globe and throughout history. Dynasty: A ...
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Epilogue
Jeroen Duindam
in Dynasty: A Very Short Introduction
Throughout history, elites have developed instruments to consolidate the status of their families, by enlarging their patrimony, educating their scions, and seeking strategic alliances. ...
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Terror and terrorism
Antulio J. Echevarria II
in Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction
‘Terror and terrorism’ discusses strategies in which terror is used to break an opponent’s willingness to fight or to induce a change in a rival power’s policy or behavior. Terror often ...
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1. What is modern China?
Rana Mitter
in Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
China is the world’s most populous country with a rapidly growing economy, an expanding political presence, and at the beginning of the 21st century, 1.3 billion people lived there. ‘What ...
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Introduction
Michael Newman
in Socialism: A Very Short Introduction
The ‘Introduction’ identifies the key topics addressed in the book, as well as the difficulties involved in attempting to define socialism, setting out the specific characteristics by which ...
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Epilogue: Confucianism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
Daniel K. Gardner
in Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction
The ‘Epilogue’ considers the harsh condemnation of Confucianism in the early decades of the twentieth century by leaders of the nationalist May Fourth movement. The Chinese Communist Party ...
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5. The legacy of Clausewitz
Michael Howard
in Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction
‘The legacy of Clausewitz’ looks at the influence of his theories and their continued relevance today. Popularized — and distorted — through the endorsement of Helmuth von Moltke, his ...
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1. The Theory of Communism
Leslie Holmes
in Communism: A Very Short Introduction
‘The theory of communism’ examines those aspects of communist theory that provide a better understanding of how Communists in power perceived the world, why they acted as they did, and how ...
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2. “Politics in Command”
Richard Curt Kraus
in The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
‘“Politics in Command”’ explores the political mechanisms of the Cultural Revolution. Theatricality played an important role, both in carefully choreographed propaganda and in unscripted ...
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3. Culture: “destroy the old, establish the new”
Richard Curt Kraus
in The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
‘Culture: “destroy the old, establish the new”’ examines the Cultural Revolution's effects on the arts. The Cultural Revolution sought to eliminate feudal and bourgeois artistic influences, ...
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1. Becoming a revolutionary
Delia Davin
in Mao: A Very Short Introduction
‘Becoming a revolutionary’ provides an overview of Mao Zedong's early life. Mao had a humble upbringing in rural China. He loved his mother, but clashed with his father. Against his ...
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7. The rise and fall of superpower detente, 1968–79
Robert McMahon
in The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction
During the 1970s the Cold War experienced a change in pace, as world leaders sought to stabilize international affairs. ‘The rise and fall of superpower detente, 1968–79’ covers detente ...
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Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
Rana Mitter
China today is never out of the news: from international finance to human rights controversies, global coverage of its rising international presence, and the Chinese ‘economic miracle’. It ...
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2. The old order and the new
Rana Mitter
in Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
The Chinese past is often viewed as a corrupt, ‘feudal’ chaos held back by Confucian thought. However, the imperial Chinese state was also driven by a system of mutual obligation that ...
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Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction
Michael Howard
Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction explains Clausewitz's ideas in terms both of his experiences as a professional soldier in the Napoleonic Wars, and of the intellectual ...
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The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
Richard Curt Kraus
The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction illuminates China's decade-long Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Moving beyond Mao Zedong, this VSI links Beijing's ...
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8. Legacies and assessments: the posthumous Mao
Delia Davin
in Mao: A Very Short Introduction
‘Legacies and assessments: the posthumous Mao’ investigates China after Mao. Hua Guofeng remained faithful to Mao's ideology, and jailed the radical Gang of Four. Meanwhile, Deng Xiaoping ...
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3. Making China modern
Rana Mitter
in Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
Chinese 20th-century politics appears as a story of constant conflict. The clash between the Nationalists under Chiang Kaishek and the Communists under Mao Zedong lasted for decades. ...
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