China, Yugoslavia, and Socialist Worldmaking: Convergences and Divergences

China and Yugoslavia played unique roles in the global Cold War story. Each in its own way and despite various shortcomings, both countries at tempted to defy the rules of international conduct that Cold War superpowers were setting according to their own interests and influence the creation of new ones. The intersection of these attempts, followed by the two countries’ unique ideological standpoints, bore upon the development of their respective foreign affairs policies, as well as on their understanding of the changes that the world was undergoing during the Cold War era, and on certain aspects of their internal development. Furthermore, the dynamics of Sino-Yugoslavia relations also exerted tangible influence on many other countries around the globe, significantly impacting the course of postcolonial processes. Although researchers have been looking in this direction with more interest in the past decade or so, this collection shows there are still many “gaps” in our knowledge about both Sino-Yugoslav relations and their influence on the events of the Cold War. The ideological depth of Chinese criticism of Yugoslav revisionism, the intersection of Chinese and Yugoslav initiatives toward various national liberation movements throughout the world, Yugoslavia’s role in China’s reformulation of its international policies in the late 1960s, the Chinese understanding of Yugoslavia’s role during the “reform and opening-up” period, as well as China’s stance toward Yugoslavia’s dissolution, to mention only some, are all topics that have not yet been thoroughly researched. Furthermore, the methods and the approach to the research of Sino-Yugoslav relations should be applied to China’s relations with “Eastern Bloc” countries, which would undoubtedly enhance the understanding of the internal processes that took place on the “communist” side of the Cold War, most notably, the progress of the bloc’s dissolution. Hopefully, this collection will inspire and encourage fresh research that expands the understanding of the far-reaching consequences of the global Cold War.