On this page
This page: Selected synopsis of an author working paper.
What is available: page, manuscript, data and code
- This web page
- The selected synopsis is readable here. It is not the complete manuscript.
- Original paper
- The original-paper record is external; its access conditions are separate from this web page.
- Data and codebook
- No accompanying dataset or codebook is provided on this page.
- Code
- No accompanying analysis code is provided on this page.
Author’s synopsis
The paper compares state capitalism and private feudalism as two institutional forms that can concentrate decision-making power while presenting different accounts of freedom, equality, or merit. Through cases involving the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, post-Soviet Russia, and the United States, it asks whether hierarchy, worker dependence, and obedience can persist beneath opposing ideological masks.
What the paper examines
- The paper distinguishes formal ownership from practical control over work, investment, information, and political decision-making.
- Its comparative cases are used to generate an institutional question: when does an ideology's promise diverge from the distribution of power it enables?
- The title's claim that systems share one underlying face is the paper's interpretive thesis, not a verified finding that all states or economies are identical.
What was reviewed
- Source checking
- The synopsis was checked against an author-controlled source on 31 August 2026. A source fingerprint identifies the version; it does not validate the argument.
- Independent scholarly review
- Independent scholarly review is not documented in this web record.
Original paper record
- ResearchGate Harsh Wardhan, Siddhartha, Two Masks, One Face: State Capitalism and Private Feudalism as Mirrors of the Same System (2025).Open source ↗
Source notes
- Matched to a Volume II political-economy paper and its archived distribution snapshot.
- The synopsis preserves the paper's comparative ambition without turning analogy into proof.
Limitations and unresolved boundaries
- The paper is an interpretive working paper, not a complete comparative political-economy dataset.
- Historical systems differ in law, period, institutions, and social conditions; comparisons must be made mechanism by mechanism.
- Usage metrics are not quality ratings or peer-review outcomes.
Publication and technical provenance
This document is presented as an author-paper catalogue entry connected to the Independent Observer program. Its source trail and status remain visible so readers can distinguish a working paper from a released publication.
The complete manuscript is not hosted here. This page contains a source-reviewed synopsis and selected analytical points for discovery, citation, and discussion.
The Volume II taxonomy places this paper alongside the programme's inquiry into sovereignty, institutions, and political economy. The public page keeps its strongest comparative language labeled as an argument and does not reproduce the source file.
The archived distribution snapshot lists 30 downloads and 186 abstract views in the indexed snapshot checked on 30 August 2026. This is a comparative and interpretive working paper; the cases are not interchangeable, and the argument requires period-specific evidence rather than ideological equivalence by assertion.
Author-source provenance
Source fingerprint (SHA-256): 85d2103ef680f0bd827708b9c92f079af3c7865d00047d5b54a0d8cd437d797a
Copyright and any paper-specific license remain with the author. This page is a selected synopsis; the complete manuscript file is not hosted here.
Suggested citation
Siddhartha Harsh Wardhan. “Two Masks, One Face: State Capitalism and Private Feudalism as Mirrors of the Same System.” Independent Observer, 5 December 2025.