The USSR as a “Weak State
Agrarian Origins of Resistance to Perestroika
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6410593 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Don Van Atta (Hamilton College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1989 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 129-149 |
| Publication date | 1989-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | World Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-8871 • E-ISSN: 1086-3338 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2010573 |
| OpenAlex | W1983353241 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 14 |
The party-state apparatus's structure, which makes it incapable of implementing systemic reforms, is a principal source of resistance to Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of radical reconstruction (perestroika) in the USSR. This apparatus took form in the struggle to subdue the peasantry in the 1930s. Its basic means for managing agricultural production (and, to some extent, industrial production as well), is the mobilizational campaign. But campaigns are by nature intermittent and thus ineffective at eliciting subtle, long-term changes in organizational or individual behavior. For perestroika to succeed, alternative instruments for policy implementation which offer effective political and economic incentives for increased production must be developed. Despite its pervasiveness and intrusiveness, the Soviet state is incapable of effectively implementing many kinds of change in society. In that sense, it is a “weak state
Agrarian society · Agriculture · China · Development economics · Economic policy · Economic system · Economics · Incentive · Intrusiveness · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Principal (computer security · Production (economics · Resistance (ecology · State (computer science · State ownership · History · Law · Russia and Soviet political economy
| Citations per year | 0.16 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1994 - 2021 (28) |
| Highly cited | No |