Adaptive Institutional Failure: Lessons from the Nationalist Government’s Collapse in China (1945–1949) for Contemporary Governance Crises
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47672/ejh.2980Keywords:
Adaptive Institutionalism; Chinese Civil War; Nationalist Government; Chinese Communist Party; Governance Failure; Political Repression; Hyperinflation; Legitimacy Crisis; Chiang Kai-Shek; PostWar China; Robbery Reception (Jiéshōu)Abstract
Purpose: This study examines the Nationalist Government’s (GMD) collapse from 1945 to 1949, employing adaptive institutionalism to analyze how institutional non-adaptation precipitated a legitimacy crisis, fracturing China’s national community.
Methodology: Using qualitative historical methods, including archival records and secondary literature, the study applies adaptive institutionalism (bridging ecological and sociological theories) to the GMD case, supplemented by comparative analysis with Venezuela’s post-2014 crisis and Zimbabwe’s Mugabe-era decline.
Findings: Despite postwar advantages (Japan’s surrender, international recognition, and U.S. aid), the GMD’s rigid structures amplified governance failures, political repression, and economic collapse, enabling the Chinese Communist Party’s ascendancy. Systemic corruption during the “robbery reception” of Manchurian assets, unchecked warlordism, and the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics’ extrajudicial repression eroded administrative and procedural legitimacy, radicalizing moderates. Hyperinflation and the 1948 Gold Yuan fiasco devastated livelihoods, breaching the moral economy and performative legitimacy. Cultural path-dependence and elite-driven patronage precluded reforms, contrasting with the CCP’s adaptive strategies, while Venezuela and Zimbabwe display parallel patterns of rigidity, where oil dependency and land reform chaos fueled legitimacy crises.
Recommendations: The GMD’s failure underscores the need for dynamic institutional reconfiguration to sustain legitimacy under stress. Polycentric systems and inclusive reforms are vital for contemporary governance to navigate crises and maintain societal cohesion, illuminating pathways to resilience in modern contexts.
Keywords: Adaptive Institutionalism; Chinese Civil War; Nationalist Government; Chinese Communist Party; governance failure; political repression; hyperinflation; legitimacy crisis; Chiang Kai-shek; postwar China; Robbery Reception (jiéshōu)
JEL Classification: N45; P16; D73; N40; O43
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