Logic of divergence

After the previous chapters reviewed the key differences between China and Russia in terms of the design of center–periphery relations, this chapter will address the reasons for this divergence. It provides a catalogue of possible factors explaining why Russia and China part ways: from the way politics is organized at the national level (in particular the existence of vertical elite networks), to differences in ethnic composition and resource endowment, economic geography, and the beliefs and ideologies of central elites. It also discusses how and whether China learned from the Russian experience, and vice versa. Finally, the chapter looks at how historical path dependency shaped the features we described, cementing the particular Russian and Chinese models.