Little Chance

If we view the PRC as a revolutionary state, we must conclude that there was little chance for U.S.-PRC comity in the early years of the PRC. The early PRC was not just another state pursuing its interests in the same fashion as other states. It was a state brought into being by a powerful social revolutionary movement. As such, it shared much in common with other revolutionary movements and states. There is a robust literature on revolutions, revolutionary movements, and states. One central characteristic identified by virtually all schools of interpretation is a strong role for ideology. An ideology, whether that of Rousseau, Marx, or the Prophet Mohammed, plays a vital role in successful social revolutions. It inspires and mobilizes people to bear the sacrifices inevitably associated with rebellion, it explains why destruction of the old order and the creation of a new order is necessary, it justifies the sacrifices entailed by the revolutionary struggle, and it legitimizes the new structures of power created by the victorious revolution. Successful revolutions require ideologies; without a powerful revolutionary creed the revolutionary challenge is likely to be crushed or co-opted

Creed · Ideology · Interpretation (philosophy · Order (exchange · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Revolutionary movement · Social order · Sociology · State (computer science · American Political and Social Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America · Political theory and Gramsci

• Cold War co-operation

  Sulmaan Wasif Khan•Cold War History•2011

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