Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?: Understanding Historical Change

Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? Understanding Historical Change
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Front Cover
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Back Cover
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Copyright......Page 3
Table of Contents......Page 4
Preface......Page 7
Map of the Former Soviet Union......Page 9
Introduction: Contexts and Comparisons	3......Page 10
Defining the Soviet Collapse......Page 11
Ch. 1	Legacies: The Burdens of Russian and Soviet History	21......Page 20
Legacies of Old Russia	21......Page 21
Legacies of Revolution	25......Page 23
A woodcut of Lenin and a religious icon......Page 24
Questions and Controversies: Was the Soviet Union Doomed from the Start?	35......Page 29
Legacies of Stalinism	37......Page 30
Ch. 2	Cracks in the Foundation: The Post-Stalin Years	46......Page 35
Facing Stalin's Legacy: The Dilemma of Reform	47......Page 36
From Growth to Stagnation: Explaining Economic Decline	56......Page 41
Beneath the Surface: Social Change in the Post-Stalin Years	60......Page 43
Making Nations	71......Page 49
Questions and Controversies: What Held the Soviet Empire Together?	78......Page 53
The Soviet Union and the World	79......Page 54
Questions and Controversies: Can Coincidence Explain the Soviet Collapse?	81......Page 55
Questions and Controversies: Debating the Gorbachev Factor	87......Page 58
Changing of the Guard	89......Page 59
Acceleration: "The Key to All Our Problems" 95......Page 62
Poster: "Bring Back the Brezhnev Era"......Page 65
"More Light": The Glasnost Phenomenon	98......Page 66
"What Have We Done?" Democratization and Political Reform	106......Page 70
Toward the Market? Perestroika and the Soviet Economy	114......Page 74
Questions and Controversies: What Went Wrong with Reform?	121......Page 78
"A Consensus of All Mankind": New Thinking in Soviet Foreign Policy	122......Page 79
Questions and Controversies: Did Western Pressure Push the Soviet Union Over the Brink?	127......Page 82
Nothing to Buy: The Unraveling of the Soviet Economy	133......Page 85
Democratic Awakenings: Anticommunism in the Communist Heartland	138......Page 88
Labor Awakenings: Working-Class Protest in the Workers' State	144......Page 91
National Awakenings: The Empire Strikes Back	149......Page 94
Gathering signatures for a petition on behalf of a Lithuanian soldier wronglyimprisoned by Soviet authorities......Page 98
Questions and Controversies: Who Acts in History - Great Men......Page 107
Pressures from the Periphery: Responding to the Nationalist Challenge	174......Page 109
Pressure from the Left: Responding to the Democratic Challenge	178......Page 111
Pressures from the Right: Responding to the Conservative Challenge	182......Page 113
Three Days in August	187......Page 116
Coming Apart: The Final Days of the Soviet Union	194......Page 120
Questions and Controversies: Why a Peaceful Death?	198......Page 123
Questions and Controversies: Meaning and History	200......Page 124
Suggestions for Further Study	207......Page 127
Index	213......Page 129
About the Author	219......Page 0