Institutions of isolation : border controls in the Soviet Union and its successor states, 1917-1993 / Andrea Chandler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chandler, Andrea M., 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Soviet Union--Boundaries.

Soviet Union.

Boundaries.

Former Soviet republics--Boundaries.

Former Soviet republics.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations.

International relations.

Soviet Union--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xv, 205 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998.

Summary:

Until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the Soviet Union was one of the most restrictive and powerful states in the world, and border controls were one of the most important symbols of the Soviet repressive apparatus -- as the phrase "Iron Curtain" attests. In Institutions of Isolation Andrea Chandler traces the evolution of the U.S.S.R.'s extremely restrictive border control system.

Chandler provides a comprehensive examination of border controls from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 and shows the continued importance of border controls for the newly independent Soviet successor states. She reveals the changing nature of Soviet border control policy, from the extreme Stalinist isolation of the 1930s to liberalization -- and eventual instability -- during perestroika in the late 1980s.

By exploring why a political system that originally prided itself on its internationalism devoted such intense efforts to seal its society from the outside world, Institutions of Isolation provides a revealing case study of the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet state.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0773517170 :

OCLC:

43540453