Varieties of System Transformations and Their Structural Background Based on the IPS Model

This article is the theoretical chapter of a planned book. The book aims to contribute to the theoretical foundations of similarities and differences in the transformation of party-state systems. The analytical framework of system transformation is based on the extension of the Interactive Party-State model (Csanadi, 2006), where specifics of the structure and operation of party-state systems and structural background of their disparities were described and analyzed. Self-similarities and disparities of transformation and pathdependency of the variety of systemic outcomes are assigned to structural characteristics of power distribution of party-state systems interpreted as networks. The empirical part of the book uses the Chinese case to test this theory, measuring the dynamics of systém transformation, the consequences of short- and long-term external adaptation pressures on the system transformation and long-term consequences of the short-term reactions to these pressures and their spatial disparities. This research was supported by the National Research Foundation in Hungary.