Russia and the Idea of the West: Gorbachev, Intellectuals, and the End of the Cold War

by Robert D. English

An intriguing "intellectual portrait" of a generation of Soviet reformers, this book is also a fascinating case study of how ideas can change the course of history. In most analyses of the Cold War's end the ideological aspects of Gorbachev's "new thinking" are treated largely as incidental to the broader considerations of power―as gloss on what was essentially a retreat forced by crisis and decline. Robert English makes a major contribution by demonstrating that Gorbachev's foreign policy was in fact the result of an intellectual revolution. English analyzes the rise of a liberal policy-academic elite and its impact on the Cold War's end.

English worked in the archives of the USSR Foreign Ministry and also gained access to the restricted collections of leading foreign-policy institutes. He also conducted nearly 400 interviews with Soviet intellectuals and policy makers―from Khrushchev- and Brezhnev-era Politburo members to Perestroika-era notables such as Eduard Shevardnadze and Gorbachev himself. English traces the rise of a "Westernizing" worldview from the post-Stalin years, through a group of liberals in the late1960s–70s, to a circle of close advisers who spurred Gorbachev's most radical reforms.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2000

About the author

Robert D. English is an associate professor of International Relations, Slavic Languages & Literature, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California School of International Relations. He worked in the U.S. Department of Defense from 1982–86, before moving onto the U.S. Committee for National Security between 1986-88. He has received the Marshal Shulman Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (in 2001), and the Harold D. Lasswell Prize from the American Political Science Association (in 1996).

Reviews

[Eren Buğlalılar]

Fanatik bir liberal ağzının suyu aka aka Sovyetler Birliği'ndeki yönetici/danışman aydınların ideolojik çöküşünü anlatıyor. Bazı Sovyet aydınları 1960-90 arası "sınıf mücadelesini bırakalım", "piyasa ekonomisi uygulayalım", "batı uygarlığıyla birleşelim" dedikçe bizim yazar kendinden geçiyor.

Kitabın kaynakları da çoğunlukla SSCB'nin çöküşünde rol oynamış ya da ideolojik yozlaşma rüzgarına kapılmış bürokrat, diplomat, politikacı kesimle yapılmış röportajlar. Yazar da, görüşme yaptığı insanlar da okura güven vermeyen bir "Sovyetleri yıktık, çok da güzel oldu" coşkusuyla konuşuyorlar. Bilimsel çalışmadan çok, 90'ların coşkulu kapitalist propaganda broşürlerine yakın duran bir vakit kaybı.

[Ietrio]

Another paper pusher over-simplifying a complex issue to give his fellow paper pushers the importance he thinks they deserve. A lame attempt to mimic the Super Hero story when Thor or Batman would come and take over from the humans. Intellectually dishonest, yet not captivating enough to compensate.

[Joe Rodeck]

Bored sick. Gave up early.


** No finish.

[ZahaReads]

I fw this heavy

[Barron]

Not exactly a page turner, but fills in a key piece of the Soviet historical puzzle.