Inside the Soviet alternate universe : the Cold War's end and the Soviet Union's fall reappraised / Dick Combs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Combs, Dick, 1935-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Combs, Dick, 1935-.

Travel.

Heads of state.

Psychology.

Soviet Union--Politics and government.

Soviet Union.

Politics and government.

Cold War.

Heads of state--Soviet Union--Psychology.

Combs, Dick, 1935---Travel.

Combs, Dick.

Physical Description:

xviii, 361 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, [2008]

Summary:

"Reappraises the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union based on the author's 35-year career as a specialist in Soviet and post-Soviet affairs. Explores the psychological universe of Soviet rulers to clarify the nature of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Reminiscence : ten years inside the empire

Initial encounters with the other side

Working levels of the Soviet regime

Stagnation and disaffection

The beginning of the end

Reflection : a neglected psychological perspective

Comprehending another political world

Formation of the Soviet conception of governance

The conception's evolution under Khrushchev and Brezhnev

Gorbachev and the conception's terminal phase

Relevance : psychological milieu and current foreign policy issues

Reappraising the Cold War's end and the empire's fall I : key pieces of the puzzle

Reappraising the Cold War's end and the empire's fall II : fitting the pieces together

Empire and democracy in post-Soviet Russia

An analytical blind spot and its consequences.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [321]-342) and index.

ISBN:

9780271033556

027103355X

OCLC:

231680061