Subversive institutions : the design and the destruction of socialism and the state / Valerie Bunce.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bunce, Valerie, 1949- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in comparative politics.

Cambridge studies in comparative politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Socialism--Europe, Eastern.

Socialism.

Socialism--Soviet Union.

Europe, Eastern--Politics and government--1989-.

Europe, Eastern.

Soviet Union--Politics and government--1985-1991.

Soviet Union.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 206 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From 1989 to 1992, all of the socialist dictatorships in Europe (including the Soviet Union) collapsed, as did the Soviet bloc. Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia dismembered, and the Cold War international order came to an abrupt end. Based on a series of controlled comparisons among regimes and states, Valerie Bunce argues in this book that two factors account for these remarkable developments: the institutional design of socialism as a regime, a state, and a bloc, and the rapid expansion during the 1980s of opportunities for domestic and international change. When combined, institutions and opportunities explain not just when, how, and why these regimes and states disintegrated, but also some of the most puzzling features of these developments - why, for example, the collapse of socialism was largely peaceful and why Yugoslavia, but not the Soviet Union or Czechoslovakia, disintegrated through war.

Contents:

1. The Collapse of Socialism and Socialist States

2. Domestic Socialism: Monopoly and Deregulation

3. Federalism and the Soviet Bloc: Monopoly and Deregulation

4. Leaving Socialism

5. Leaving the State.

6. Violent versus Peaceful State Dismemberment

7. Institutions and Opportunities: Constructing and Deconstructing Regimes and States.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 08 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-204) and index.

ISBN:

1-139-08519-0

0-511-81617-0

OCLC:

935277137

Publisher Number:

2027/heb05464 hdl