Gorbachev: The Man and the System - Hardcover

Farrar, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0887382223 ISBN 13: 9780887382222

Publisher: Routledge, 1988

Synopsis

Gorbachev: The Man and the System portrays Gorbachev's rise to power and his tenure in office against the background of a period of critical change and development in the Soviet system. The research is primarily based on Soviet materials, supplemented and critically compared with a wide range of Western press and academic studies. Both Zemtsov and Farrar bring to the analysis their own experiences, acquired under different circumstances.

Part I focuses on a selected chronology of significant events from Gorbachev's assumption of power in March 1985 to June 1987. The authors examine leadership and personnel changes, the economy, the society, and the arts. Part II takes a look at foreign policies by examining: relations with the United States and the industrialized West; arms control policy; relations with Eastern Europe; relations with the People's Republic of China; and relations with the third world. Part III explores Gorbachev's military policies. Part IV concludes with the authors' assessment of the future. Included in this book are appendices on: changes in the Council of Ministers, Ministers, and Chairmen of State Committees; Politburo and central committee meetings since Gorbachev became General Secretary, through June 1987; and announced changes in the Diplomatic Corps and Foreign Ministry as reported in the Soviet press. The hardcover edition of this book was published in Gorbachev's early years. It thus represents an early assessment, and as such a document of events at the time they occurred. Renewed interest in communism, and in the dissolution of the Soviet Union make this paperback edition timely.

About this title

About the Author

Ilya Zemtsov was born in the Baku region of Russia. He holds advanced graduate de­grees in philosophy and sociology. Prior to his departure from Russia in 1973, he was a member of the executive board of the Soviet Sociological Association, and di­rector of the department of social science at institutes of higher education in his -native Baku and in Yaroslav. After his emi­gration to Israel, he was a professor at the Hebrew University. Presently, he is the di­rector of the International Research Cen­ter on Contemporary Society, and editor in chief of Crossroads, a quarterly journal issued in England. He has authored sev­eral books on Soviet society and polity, including a major study of Gorbachev pub­lished earlier this year by Transaction. Dr. Zemtsov is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Review

“This is a wide-ranging and most significant study of the interactions between Gorbachev and the Soviet system... This is a well-researched analysis of the dilemmas and problems of the Soviet Union, the options open to Gorbachev, and the limits of potential future developments... This is a very important contribution to Soviet studies for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.” 

—R. M. Bigler, Choice

 

"Both scholarly and popular.... The coverage is complete (and) the analysis is straightforward and balanced." --Roger Kanet, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Profound, well researched, without any exaggeration brilliant. This is a very important contribution." --Yuri Glazov, Dalhousie University "An extremely astute, and indeed, daring analysis of the dilemmas and problems of the Soviet Union and the options open to Gorbachev." --Mark G. Field, Boston University

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0887382223
• ISBN 13: 9780887382222
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480