The Enigma of 1989

This text examines Soviet behaviour toward Eastern Europe in 1989. It analyzes the policies of the USSR toward Eastern Europe during the Gorbachev era and clarifies the goals that underpinned these policies. Based on interviews with political leaders and research in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and other ex-Warsaw Pact countries, it traces the nuances of each country's case as a set of continually changing, mutually reinforcing causes and effects.