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Author: Jerry F. Hough
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815791492
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 572
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Book Description
Democratization and Revolution in the USSR, 1985-91 presents a strikingly new view of the Gorbachev era and the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union. Written by one of America's most distinguished specialists on the former Soviet Union, this is the first comprehensive overview of the Gorbachev period and describes it as a real revolution, not mere "reform." According to Hough, despite Mikhail Gorbachev's talk of a regulated market, he never understood that a market must be created on a solid institutional and legal base. He was determined to use democratization to free himself from party control, but he saw democracy as a way of achieving near- universal consensus, not a mechanism for forcing through difficult choices. The many memoirs that have become available in the last few years, including those of Gorbachev himself, show that Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov and the "bureaucrats" in his government actually were the serious economic reformers in the leadership. Gorbachev opposed the key transitional steps at every stage and was far closer to the assumptions of shock therapy than he or his opponents ever recognized. Hough explains that Gorbachev was not alone in thinking that the destruction of old institutions was enough to unleash a market. Westerners also talked of leaping a chasm in a single jump as if democratic and market institutions existed pre-created on the other side. But, precisely because Gorbachev (and later Boris Yeltsin) was encouraged in all his worst mistakes by Western advice, his failure has crucial implications for Western thinking about the process of democratization and marketization. This unprecedented book explores those implications in depth. Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Book for 1998
Author: Jerry F. Hough
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815791492
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 572
Get Book Here
Book Description
Democratization and Revolution in the USSR, 1985-91 presents a strikingly new view of the Gorbachev era and the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union. Written by one of America's most distinguished specialists on the former Soviet Union, this is the first comprehensive overview of the Gorbachev period and describes it as a real revolution, not mere "reform." According to Hough, despite Mikhail Gorbachev's talk of a regulated market, he never understood that a market must be created on a solid institutional and legal base. He was determined to use democratization to free himself from party control, but he saw democracy as a way of achieving near- universal consensus, not a mechanism for forcing through difficult choices. The many memoirs that have become available in the last few years, including those of Gorbachev himself, show that Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov and the "bureaucrats" in his government actually were the serious economic reformers in the leadership. Gorbachev opposed the key transitional steps at every stage and was far closer to the assumptions of shock therapy than he or his opponents ever recognized. Hough explains that Gorbachev was not alone in thinking that the destruction of old institutions was enough to unleash a market. Westerners also talked of leaping a chasm in a single jump as if democratic and market institutions existed pre-created on the other side. But, precisely because Gorbachev (and later Boris Yeltsin) was encouraged in all his worst mistakes by Western advice, his failure has crucial implications for Western thinking about the process of democratization and marketization. This unprecedented book explores those implications in depth. Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Book for 1998
Author: Anne White
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312219932
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
Self-help organizations and charities were the most numerous, but least-studied of pressure groups to emerge during perestroika . This book examines the social exclusion experienced before 1985 by non-working citizens, studies the pre-1985 disabled people's movement and its numerous unofficial, but non-dissident organizations, discusses why the Gorbachev leadership adopted the non-Soviet concept of 'charity', analyses the failure of local authorities after 1985 to stave off pluralism and defeat the voluntary organizations, and assesses how successfully the latter built the foundations of a civil society.
Author: Anne White
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349273724
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
Self-help organizations and charities were the most numerous, but least-studied of pressure groups to emerge during perestroika . This book examines the social exclusion experienced before 1985 by non-working citizens, studies the pre-1985 disabled people's movement and its numerous unofficial, but non-dissident organizations, discusses why the Gorbachev leadership adopted the non-Soviet concept of 'charity', analyses the failure of local authorities after 1985 to stave off pluralism and defeat the voluntary organizations, and assesses how successfully the latter built the foundations of a civil society.
Author: Jerry F. Hough
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815737483
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 542
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Book Description
Details the Gorbachev era and reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, describing the period as a real revolution rather than mere reform. Shows that Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov and the bureaucrats in his government were actually the serious economic reformers in the leadership, and that Gorbachev
Author: Michael McFaul
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801439001
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
For centuries, dictators ruled Russia. Tsars and Communist Party chiefs were in charge for so long some analysts claimed Russians had a cultural predisposition for authoritarian leaders. Yet, as a result of reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, new political institutions have emerged that now require election of political leaders and rule by constitutional procedures. Michael McFaul—described by the New York Times as "one of the leading Russia experts in the United States"—traces Russia's tumultuous political history from Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 through the 1999 resignation of Boris Yeltsin in favor of Vladimir Putin. McFaul divides his account of the post-Soviet country into three periods: the Gorbachev era (1985-1991), the First Russian Republic (1991–1993), and the Second Russian Republic (1993–present). The first two were, he believes, failures—failed institutional emergence or failed transitions to democracy. By contrast, new democratic institutions did emerge in the third era, though not the institutions of a liberal democracy. McFaul contends that any explanation for Russia's successes in shifting to democracy must also account for its failures. The Russian/Soviet case, he says, reveals the importance of forging social pacts; the efforts of Russian elites to form alliances failed, leading to two violent confrontations and a protracted transition from communism to democracy. McFaul spent a great deal of time in Moscow in the 1990s and witnessed firsthand many of the events he describes. This experience, combined with frequent visits since and unparalleled access to senior Russian policymakers and politicians, has resulted in an astonishingly well-informed account. Russia's Unfinished Revolution is a comprehensive history of Russia during this crucial period.
Author: Anthony D'Agostino
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349144053
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393
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Book Description
This detailed and scholarly history, based on contemporary and original sources, explains the fall of Soviet Communism by bringing into focus the process of revolution from above. It finds as its cause Gorbachev's relentless political struggle to raise himself above the collective leadership which brought him to power. Gorbachev's Revolution, 1985-91 examines: · the impact of the SDI and other US arms programmes of the early 1980s which provided a stimulus for both Gorbachev's domestic reforms and his arms control initiatives · Perestroika, originally intended to show the world that a new Soviet foreign policy was based on real changes in Soviet society, however, Gorbachev launched its most radical measures in order to get an edge on his Politburo critics · Glasnost, originally meant to be a strictly controlled process furnishing an argument for piecemeal economic reforms This multi-faceted volume provides a wide-ranging and revisionist analysis of this fascinating and influential period in Soviet and international history.
Author: Mikhail Gorbachev
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509503919
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422
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Book Description
After years of rapprochement, the relationship between Russia and the West is more strained now than it has been in the past 25 years. Putin’s motives, his reasons for seeking confrontation with the West, remain for many a mystery. Not for Mikhail Gorbachev. In this new work, Russia’s elder statesman draws on his wealth of knowledge and experience to reveal the development of Putin’s regime and the intentions behind it. He argues that Putin has significantly diminished the achievements of perestroika and is part of an over-centralized system that presents a precarious future for Russia. Faced with this, Gorbachev advocates a radical reform of politics and a new fostering of pluralism and social democracy. Gorbachev’s insightful analysis moves beyond internal politics to address wider problems in the region, including the Ukraine conflict, as well as the global challenges of poverty and climate change. Above all else, he insists that solutions are to be found by returning to the atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation which was so instrumental in ending the Cold War. This book represents the summation of Gorbachev’s thinking on the course that Russia has taken since 1991 and stands as a testament to one of the greatest and most influential statesmen of the twentieth century.
Author: Mikhail Gorbachev
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023150019X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 450
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Book Description
The last president of the Soviet Union discusses Communism, the Cold War, and bringing democracy to Russia in this sweeping political memoir. Drawing on his own experience and rich archival material, Mikhail Gorbachev shares his illuminating perspective on Russia's past, present, and future place in the world. Beginning with the October Revolution of 1917, he notes how much Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party did to modernize Russia. While he argues that the Soviet Union had a positive influence on social policy in the West, Gorbachev maintains that this positive development was cut short by Stalinist totalitarianism. Discussing the fall of the USSR in depth, Gorbachev examines the goals of perestroika, awakening ethnic tensions, the inability of democrats to unite, and his own attempts to preserve the union through reform. In retracing those fateful days, he explains the origins of Russia's present crisis. He then lays out a blueprint for Russia’s future, charting a path toward meaningful economic and political reforms. He also presents possible resolutions to a number of international dilemmas, including NATO expansion, the role of the UN, the fate of nuclear weapons, and environmental problems
Author: Gordon M. Hahn
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9781412833615
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 658
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Book Description
"Relying on a wealth of detailed institutional, policy, and elite information, Hahn presents a magisterial study that fills a significant void in our understanding of USSR's destruction. While readers may at times feel overwhelmed.... readers are presented with a conceptual approach that can be useful for appreciating ongoing institutional changes and oftern subtle elite maneuverings in the post-Soviet era. --John P. Willerton, University of Arizona "This is a big book in all respects, weighty both in size and scholarship. The core is a meticulous analysis of the perestroika period of the Soviet Union (1985-91). Followed by a concluding general chapter that applies the earlier analysis to post-Communist Russia (1992-2000). The work is based on years of painstaking analysis, considerable archival research, and numerous interviews." -- The Russian Review "This is an important book with a number of substantive strengths." -- Slavic Review The fall of the Soviet communist regime in 1991 offers a challenging contrast to other instances of democratic transition and change in the last decades of the twentieth century. The 1991 revolution was neither a peaceful revolution from below as occurred in Czechoslovakia nor a negotiated transition to democracy like those in Poland, Hungary, or Latin America. It was not primarily the result of social modernization, the rise of a new middle class, or of national liberation movements in the non-Russian union republics. Instead, as Gordon Hahn argues, the Russian transformation was a bureaucrat-led, state-based revolution managed by a group of Communist Party functionaries who won control over the Russian Republic (RSFSR) in the mid-1990s. Hahn describes how opportunistic Party and state officials, led by Boris Yeltsin, defected from the Gorbachev camp and proceeded in 1990-91 to dismantle the institutions that bound state and party. These revolutionaries from above seized control of political, economic, natural and human resources, and then separated the party apparatus from state institutions on Russian Republic territory. With the failed August 1991 hard-line coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and decreed that all Union state organs, including the KGB and military were under RSFSR control. In Hahn's account, this mode of revolutionary change from above explains the troubled development of democracy in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Hahn shows how limited mobilization of the masses stunted the development of civil societies and the formation of political parties and trade unions with real grass roots. The result is a weak society unable to nudge the state to concentrate on institutional reforms society needs for the development of a free polity and economy. Russia's Revolution from Above goes far in correcting the historical record and reconceptualizing the Soviet transformation. It should be read by historians, economists, political scientists, and Russia area scholars. Gordon M. Hahn is visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His articles on Soviet and Russian politics have appeared in Europe-Asia Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, Russian Review, and Russian History/Histoire Russe.
Author: Mikhail Gorbachev
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780745303550
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
