Five Years That Shook The World: Gorbachev's Unfinished Revolution

Westview Press

ISBN: 978-0813311968

This book provides a broad perspective on the first five years of perestroika in the USSR. Respected scholars examine economic, political, and social change; nationalities, health, and environmental issues; the cultural scene; and the evolving international order. The insights of this group of authors should stimulate reconsideration of fundamental issues by specialists. Mikhail Gorbachev has helped bring about a revolution whose repercussions are being felt worldwide. Despite the enormous systemic problems hampering reform, Soviet politics, cultural life, and social institutions have been profoundly altered since 1985. In international affairs, the changes have been even more dramatic. European security issues have been transformed, the "satellites" are returning to independent paths of development and communism has lost its claim to being a global revolutionary force.