Sometimes, it pays to be a backward country

Leon Trotsky's concept of "the privilege of historic backwardness" offers a compelling lens through which to understand China's remarkable economic and technological leap into the 21st century. This theory, outlined in his work on the Russian Revolution, suggests that countries lagging behind can achieve rapid progress by adopting the innovations of more advanced nations, bypassing traditional developmental stages.

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A backward country assimilates the material and intellectual conquests of the advanced countries. But this does not mean that it follows them slavishly, reproduces all the stages of their past.

Trotsky argued that a backward country "assimilates the material and intellectual conquests of the advanced countries" but does not necessarily "follow them slavishly, reproducing all the stages of their past." Instead, it "adopts whatever is ready in advance of any specified date, skipping a whole series of intermediate stages." This process results in a development that is "planless, complex, combined."

This dynamic appears to resonate with China's recent history, particularly after recovering from periods of significant hardship. While some predicted China's collapse, its trajectory suggests a strategic adoption of existing technologies and economic models. The "privilege of historic backwardness" allowed China to accelerate its development, integrating advanced systems without necessarily undergoing every step of the industrial revolution as experienced by earlier industrializers.

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Although compelled to follow after the advanced countries, a backward country does not take things in the same order. The privilege of historic backwardness – and such a privilege exists – permits, or rather compels, the adoption of whatever is ready in advance of any specified date, skipping a whole series of intermediate stages … Their development as a whole acquires a planless, complex, combined character.

The principle is not unique to China. Fast-growing economies in Africa, for instance, have adopted 5G networks and e-commerce platforms, effectively leapfrogging older technologies and development pathways. This demonstrates how a perceived disadvantage can, under certain conditions, become a catalyst for accelerated and unconventional progress.

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The possibility of skipping over intermediate steps is of course by no means absolute. Its degree is determined in the long run by the economic and cultural capacities of the country.