Western Scholorship on the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Regime

It is the perception of the outside, non-academic, world that Sovietology emerged from the greatest political event of the post-war era, namely the sudden collapse of the USSR, without much credit. Commenting on the profession's failure, on the second anniversary of the August 1991 coup, The Japan Times remarked that 'outside a few dissident prophets, mainly in the Soviet Union itself, no expert appears to have grasped the true extent of the system's fragility'.' Inevitably, many experts would not accept this judgement. Very few, however, would deny the importance and the interest of taking a fresh look at Sovietology in the 1970s and 1980s in the light of subsequent events. This is the aim of the spring 1993 edition of The National Interest, which consists of a collection of essays under the general title of 'The Strange Death of Soviet Communism'. These essays actually do much more than just criticize aspects of Sovietology in the last two decades of the Soviet r6gime. They also discuss at some length Western historians' treatment of the Soviet past, going back to the r6gime's foundation in 1917. In addition, many of the authors put forward their own interpretations of the nature of the Soviet regime and why it collapsed in the way, at the time, and with the speed that so surprised most observers of the Soviet scene. This collection of essays is sometimes unfair and usually polemical. At times it resembles a victory dance on the grave of communism and those who gave it aid and comfort. Even when unfair, however, these essays are always thought-provoking. Very often they are not only intelligent and sharp but also right on target in their judgements

Communism · Democracy · Economic history · Fall of man · Judgement · Political science · Politics · Soviet union · Victory · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Soviet and Russian History

• On the Meaning of “Sovietology”

  Open Access•Aryeh L Unger•Communist and Post-Communist…•1998

  Add to list

• Overcoming the Twentieth Century

  Open Access•Vernon Bogdanor•The Political Quarterly•1995

  Add to list

• Russian Studies

  Open Access•Richard Sakwa•Politics•1996

  Add to list