ABSTRAK
In this paper, I explore a new, alternative way of conducting a comparative analysis of socialism in East Asia, based on Marx's classical work, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, as well as recent developments in comparative sociology by George Steinmentz and Willliam Sewel Jr., who emphasize a more fluid, nuanced type of time-space contigent comparison by going beyond the limits of conventional positivist comparison. My comparative cases are china and North korea, the two remaining (post)socialist countries in East Asia. The discussion in this paper proceeds in three parts. First, i trace the origins of "absence of interaction effects" and false assumption of "Mutual Exclussiveness" in macro-causal comparison by scholars such as Theda Skocpol. Second, I then discuss the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte as a concrete case of conducting "evenful comparison" an alternative to positivist macro-casual comparison. Finally, i explore a possibility of conducting "eventful comparison" of post-socialist transformation in two remaining socialist countries in East Asia - China and North Korea. |
