A normal totalitarian society : how the Soviet Union functioned and how it collapsed / Vladimir Shlapentokh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shlapentokh, Vladimir.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communism--Soviet Union.

Communism.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Totalitarianism.

Physical Description:

xv, 340 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Armonk, N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe, [2001]

Summary:

Shlapentokh undertakes a dispassionate analysis of the ordinary functioning of the Soviet system from Stalin's death through the Soviet collapse and Russia's first post-communist decade. Without overlooking its repressive character, he treats the USSR as a "normal" system that employed both socialist and nationalist ideologies for the purposes of technological and military modernization, preservation of empire, and expansion of its geopolitical power. Foregoing the projection of Western norms and assumptions, he seeks to achieve a clearer understanding of a civilization that has perplexed its critics and its champions alike.

Contents:

1. Theoretical Concepts 3

2. Two Components of Soviet Ideology: Socialism and Russian Nationalism 14

3. Adjusting the Revolutionary Ideology to Totalitarian Goals 28

4. World Revolution As a Geopolitical Instrument 41

5. Open and Closed Ideologies 54

6. Policy Toward Key Social Groups: Workers and Creative Intelligentsia 63

7. The Political System: The Supreme Leader As the Major Institution 71

8. An Effective Political Machine 84

9. The Economy: Organic Flaws and Achievements 103

10. Public Opinion: Acceptance of the Regime 127

11. The Regime and the Empire: A Complex Relationship 153

12. Reforms: Alternatives in History 167

13. Reforming the System, Destroying Its Fundamentals 179

14. Consequences 201.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

1563244713

OCLC:

46858434