This book analyzes the Soviet Union's social problems, focusing on those it shares with Western industrial societies. It assesses the social concerns confronting Gorbachev, including poverty; prostitution; health, education, and family issues; and the difficulty of adapting to technological change.

This book analyzes the Soviet Union's social problems, focusing on those it shares with Western industrial societies. It assesses the social concerns confronting Gorbachev, including poverty; prostitution; health, education, and family issues; and the difficulty of adapting to technological change.

Due to the pace of change in the USSR, monographs and textbooks in the field are quickly becoming dated. This book is the inaugural edition of a series that seeks to fill that void by presenting a biannual, systematic summary and analysis of developments in Soviet affairs. In this first volume, noted experts cover the years 1989-1990, examining the full range of political, economic, social, and ethnic changes of these two tumultuous years. Additional chapters focus on the Soviet Union's foreign relations and key developments abroad as well as at home. Scholars and students as well as general readers will find this series to be of great value as a means of staying current in an era of constant change.

The demise of any empire provides an occasion for fresh examination of longaccepted "truths" about its history and its intrinsic nature: What set this particular empire apart from others? Why did it develop in the way that it did? Could events have taken a different path? What legacies has the empire left to its heirs? In this volume, eminent scholars reflect on the unique and central features of the Soviet empire during its period of consolidation in Europe and speculate on the long-term effects of its collapse. They reconsider subjects that have absorbed Adam Ulam's attention in his own work-the ideologies of central planning, of totalitarianism and state terror at home, and of intervention abroad-and explore their impact on the people who lived under Soviet power at its apogee. They also analyze the unraveling of the system on the domestic scene, in elite and grassroots politics, and in the international arena. Concluding chapters focus on the configuration of new domestic and foreign policies and on prospects for security and cooperation in the region.

The demise of any empire provides an occasion for fresh examination of longaccepted "truths" about its history and its intrinsic nature: What set this particular empire apart from others? Why did it develop in the way that it did? Could events have taken a different path? What legacies has the empire left to its heirs? In this volume, eminent scholars reflect on the unique and central features of the Soviet empire during its period of consolidation in Europe and speculate on the long-term effects of its collapse. They reconsider subjects that have absorbed Adam Ulam's attention in his own work-the ideologies of central planning, of totalitarianism and state terror at home, and of intervention abroad-and explore their impact on the people who lived under Soviet power at its apogee. They also analyze the unraveling of the system on the domestic scene, in elite and grassroots politics, and in the international arena. Concluding chapters focus on the configuration of new domestic and foreign policies and on prospects for security and cooperation in the region.

Due to the pace of change in the USSR, monographs and textbooks in the field are quickly becoming dated. This book is the inaugural edition of a series that seeks to fill that void by presenting a biannual, systematic summary and analysis of developments in Soviet affairs. In this first volume, noted experts cover the years 1989-1990, examining the full range of political, economic, social, and ethnic changes of these two tumultuous years. Additional chapters focus on the Soviet Union's foreign relations and key developments abroad as well as at home. Scholars and students as well as general readers will find this series to be of great value as a means of staying current in an era of constant change.