This landmark four-volume series is the result of the second international conference of the Professors World Peace Academy in Geneva, Switzerland. Participants at the conference examined practically every aspect of Soviet reality, including politics, society, economy, ideology, culture, nationalities, dependencies, and international relations. Presenting the views of over eighty distinguished scholars in the field, these books make important, innovative contributions to our knowledge and understanding of the Soviet Union’s past, present and future.
Vol. 2: Economics and Society
Volume 2 of this series is devoted to the exploration of the Soviet economy and society with a view to establishing what alternative social and economic structures may emerge to replace the existing ones. In this context the mental challenges as well as elite-conflicts, social deviations and dissent, and a number of other issues are discussed. Also considered is the Soviet system’s overall viability.
The chapters are grouped under parts entitled, “The Present State and Future Prospects for the Soviet Economy”, “Demographic and Environmental Problems”, “The Soviet Ruling Elite, the Counterelites, and Other Social Strata”, “Deviation and Dissent”, and “Soviet Law and Political Change”. The book opens with a helpful introduction by Shtromas and Kaplan, notes on contributors, and an index.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
PART I: The Present State and Future Prospects for the Soviet Economy
1. Introductory Note to the Economics Section
PHILIP HANSON
2. The Current State of the Soviet Economy: Deepening Crisis or Recovery?
VLADIMIR KONTOROVICH
3. The Impact of Defense Policy Options on the Dynamics of the Soviet
Economy
MICHAEL CHECINSKI
4. The Second Economy and the Economic Crisis in the USSR
PETER J. D. WILES
5. The Soviet Economic System Under Technological Challenges: An Inquest
into Adaptational Alternatives
CLAUS-DIETER KERNIG
6. Soviet Economists and the Search for a New Economic System
PHILIP HANSON
7. Soviet Agriculture as the Touchstone of Economic Reform
ROLF H. W. THEEN
8. On Grain Yields, Payments in Kind, and Prospects for Agricultural
Reform–A Commentary on Chapter 7
D. GALE JOHNSON
9. Soviet Economic Reforms: Possibilities and Probabilities
IGOR BIRMAN
10. Will Reform Improve or Worsen the Economic Situation in the USSR
in the Short Run?
MICHAEL ELLMAN
11. Is a Within-System Reform Possible?
ALEC NOVE
12. Can the Current Economic Problems of the USSR Be Solved Within
the Framework of a Communist System of Economic Management? A Comparative
Perspective
LJUBO SIRC
13. The Inherent Limits of Soviet Economic Development and the Fate
of the Soviet System–A Commentary on Chapters 2, 3, 11, and 12
OLIMPIAD S. IOFFE
PART II: Demographic and Environmental Problems
1. The Soviet System Under Demographic Challenge
SERGEI MAKSUDOV
2. Goal-Oriented Statements as a Substitute for Scientific Research–A
Commentary on Chapter 1
MIKHAIL AGURSKY
3. Trends and Economic Conditions of Soviet Population and Labor Force
Dynamics, 1959-2000
MIKHAIL S. BERNSTAM
4. The Natural Environment and the Soviet System: Would a Russian National
State Be Able to Solve Ecological Problems That the Soviet State Cannot
Solve?
ZEEV WOLFSON (BORIS KOMAROV)
PART III: The Soviet Ruling Elite, the Counterelites, and
Other Social Strata
1. Elites and Counterelites in Soviet-Type Society and Politics: Pressures
for Innovation and Constraint
JAROSLAV KREJCÍ
2. Nomenklatura: Formation of the Soviet Ruling Elite and its Position
Within the Soviet Society
BOHDAN HARASYMIW
3. The Study of Nomenklatura: How the Computer Can Help
MICHEL TATU
4. Conservatism and Reformism in the Party-Bureaucratic Elite
JERRY F. HOUGH
5. The Nomenklatura in the USSR: Instrument of Policy and/or Obstacle
to Reform
ROLF H. W. THEEN
6. The Nomenklatura, the Soviet People, and Prospects for Political
Change in the USSR–A Commentary on Chapters 2 and 4
MICHAEL VOSLENSKY
7. The Intelligentsia and Soviet Power: Cooperation and Confrontation
IGOR YEFIMOV-MOSKOVIT
8. The Evolution of Soviet Party-Military Relations Since Khrushchev
BENJAMIN S. LAMBETH
9. Civil-Military Relations in the USSR
JEREMY R. AZRAEL
10. The Oppositional Experience of the Polish Blue-Collar Workers and
its Validity for the Rest of the Soviet Bloc
ALEXANDER J. MATEJKO
PART IV: Deviation and Dissent
1. The Land of Total Deviance: Deviant Behavior and the Ability of
Soviet Authorities to Keep It in Check
VLADIMIR G. LAMSDORFF
2. The Social and Political Implications of Soviet Crime and Corruption
GEORGE GINSBURGS
3. The New Soviet Man: Myth and Reality
DMITRY MIKHEYEV
4. Democratic Dissent: A Sign and a Component of Social Change in the
USSR and Eastern Europe
HELENA RICHTER
5. The Phenomenon of Soviet Diverse-Mindedness
HERMANN FEIN (ANDREEV)
PART V: Soviet Law and Political Change
1. Private Law: What Has to Be Abolished and What Can Be Retained
BERNARD RUDDEN
2. The Prospects for Criminal Law
GEORGE GINSBURGS
Notes on Contributors
Index
ALEXANDER SHTROMAS was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan at Hillsdale.
MORTON A. KAPLAN is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Chicago.