Seven Years that Changed the World
Perestroika in Perspective
Published on 19. April 2007
Book
Hardback
372 pages
978-0-19-928215-9 (ISBN)
Description
A rigorously argued and lively interpretation of the transformation of the Soviet system, the disintegration of the Soviet state, the end of the Cold War, and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev. Written by a leading authority on Soviet politics, this thoroughly researched book draws on new archival sources and puts perestroika in fresh perspective.
Perestroika began as an attempt by a minority within the leadership of the Communist Party to reform the Soviet system. The decisive role was played by the new General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika (reconstruction) developed into an attempt to move from Communism to competitive elections and a market economy of a social democratic type. This 'revolution from above' had profound consequences, both intended and unintended. The latter included the dissolution of the Soviet state. Four of the ten chapters were written in 'real time' - in the second half of the 1980s while perestroika was still underway. The other six chapters provide an up-to-date discussion of such important issues as the stimuli to perestroika, its intellectual origins and development, its influence on other countries and their influence on developments in the Soviet Union, and the ending of the Cold War.
Archie Brown takes issue with a number of popular interpretations of perestroika - and of the end of the Cold War - and draws on new archival sources in a book which is both clearly and vigorously argued and well documented.
Perestroika began as an attempt by a minority within the leadership of the Communist Party to reform the Soviet system. The decisive role was played by the new General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika (reconstruction) developed into an attempt to move from Communism to competitive elections and a market economy of a social democratic type. This 'revolution from above' had profound consequences, both intended and unintended. The latter included the dissolution of the Soviet state. Four of the ten chapters were written in 'real time' - in the second half of the 1980s while perestroika was still underway. The other six chapters provide an up-to-date discussion of such important issues as the stimuli to perestroika, its intellectual origins and development, its influence on other countries and their influence on developments in the Soviet Union, and the ending of the Cold War.
Archie Brown takes issue with a number of popular interpretations of perestroika - and of the end of the Cold War - and draws on new archival sources in a book which is both clearly and vigorously argued and well documented.
Reviews / Votes
Compelling...an excellent book,It is well-written, and researched with meticulous care. * Mike Bowker, Seer * ...the book will encourage readers to revive their memories of the excitement of the Gorbachev years and to refine their own opinions on the man himself and his policies. * Paul Dukes History Today * There are few who can compete with Professor Brown in intensity of attention to Soviet politics and Soviet institutions, in nuanced approach, and in painstaking analysis * Lilia Shevtsova, Pro et Contra * Mikhail Gorbachev's most important biographer here passes judgement on the man and the process he unleashed ... The book's first part comprises four pieces written at the time of perestroika, which in retrospect were remarkably perceptive. In the years since, the mounting archival and memoir evidence - and Brown brings much of it to bear - has only strengthened his argument * Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs * 'The real genius of the end of communism was Mikhail Gorbachev, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. Archie Brown has been his closest and best commentator.' * Financial Times * 'The bulk of the book is a necessary reminder of what Mr Gorbachev and perestroika achieved - even if inadvertently. For what, asks Mr Brown, did Mr Gorbachev sacrifice "the boundless authority, the unquestioning obedience, the orchestrated public adulation"? For freedom of speech, freedom of religion, competitive elections and a host of other accomplishments. The author rightly concludes that the "democratic shortcomings of post-Soviet Russia notwithstanding, the country that Gorbachev bequeathed to his successors was freer than at any time in Russian history".' * The Economist * Demonstrating his meticulous scholarship and painstaking research, Brown adapts to the Soviet scene the concept of "institutional amphibiousness", by which some parts of the state system can simultaneously work for functions and purposes contradictory to those of the state' * Times Literary Supplement * in the 1980s Brown had to field his share of brickbats from those who accused him of wishful thinking about the very existence of serious reformers inside the Soviet establishment. History proved him right, and his critics wrong. Now, as this volume shows, he has the Soviet archives on his side as well * Mary Dejevsky (The Times Moscow correspondent during perestroika), Oxford Today *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
722 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-928215-9 (9780199282159)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
12/2008
Oxford University Press
€53.31
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
04/2007
OUP eBook
€23.99
Available for download
Person
Archie Brown is Emeritus Professor of Politics at Oxford University and an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, where he taught for thirty-four years, following seven years as a Lecturer in Politics at Glasgow University. Professor Brown was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1991 and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. In 2005 he was awarded the CMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 'for services to UK-Russian relations and to the study of political science and international affairs'. His book, The Gorbachev Factor (Oxford University Press, 1996) won the W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize of the Political Studies Association of the UK for best political science book of the year and the Alec Nove Prize of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies. A Festschrift, edited by Alex Pravda, Leading Russia: Putin in Perspective. Essays in Honour of Archie Brown was published by Oxford University Press in 2005.
Content
PART 1 ; 1. Introduction ; PART 2 ; 2. Gorbachev: New Man in the Kremlin ; 3. The First Phase of Soviet Reform, 1985-86 ; 4. Fundamental Political Change, 1987-89 ; 5. Reconstructing the Soviet Political System ; PART 3 ; 6. Institutional Amphibiousness or Civil Society? The Origins and Development of Perestroika ; 7. The Dismantling of the System and the Disintegration of the State ; 8. Transnational Influences in the Transition from Communism ; 9. Ending the Cold War ; 10. Gorbachev and His Era in Perspective ; Index