The Sirens of Revolution: Revolutionary Legacies and State Building in Early Communist China
2026-07-17
Why do revolutions produce sometimes strong yet unstable states after revolutionary victory? To answer this question, I utilize an original dataset and archival evidence to examine patterns of subnational-level state building in Communist China after 1949. I find that prior revolutionary experiences improved social compliance of state policies, but weakened the building of state institutions and incited public disorder. The key mechanism lies in the entrenchment of social antagonism developed during intense revolutionary struggle, which catalyzed public support for state-led social reform but also planted suspicion of perceived counterrevolutionary forces in both state and society. These findings challenge the notion that revolutions naturally create strong states and contribute to our broader understanding of how social mobilization affects state building processes.