Gorbachev's USSR: A System in Crisis

Since his appearance on the political scene, Gorbachev has caused many to adjust their views of the Soviet Union and its leadership. Are the changes in public attitudes due to Gorbachev's personality, or is the USSR undergoing genuine transformation? Leading Sovietologists gathered at Boston University to evaluate the meaning of developments in the USSR and their impact on policy. Their findings should be required reading for every observer of international affairs. The consensus: the Soviet Union is facing a systemic crisis -- affecting ideology, leadership, economics and the feuding nationalities -- with potential impact on the very foundation of the regime, now in its seventy-plus year of existence.

Table of Contents

Foreword
George R. Urban

Introduction

1. Overview: Is the Soviet Political System in Crisis?
William E. Odom

2. Is Sovietology in Crisis? Concepts and Methods of Analysis
Uri Ra'anan

3. The Soviet System: What Can be Ascertained?
(Inferences to be Drawn from US-USSR Negotiations)
Edward Rowny

4. Gorbachev's Struggle and the Soviet Crisis
Harry Gelman

5. The Soviet Nationalities: Irrepressible Conflict?
Jeremy R. Azrael

6. Changes in the Decision-Making Apparat: Vsja vlast' sovietam?
Igor Lukes

7. The Soviet Crisis and Foreign Policy Formation
Arkady Shevchenko

8. Soviet International Operations: Domestic Fallout?
Eugene Parta

9. The Impact of Gorbachev's Perestroika and Interdependence on East European Allies
John P. Hardt

10. The Impact of Gorbachevshchina on United States Foreign Policy
Eugene V. Rostow