Title Red sunset : the failure of Soviet politics / Philip G. Roeder

Published Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1993

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 317 p.) Series ACLS Humanities E-Book Book collections on Project MUSE Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Preface -- CHAPTER ONE Why Did Soviet Bolshevism Fail? -- CHAPTER TWO The Authoritarian Constitution -- CHAPTER THREE Creating the Constitution of Bolshevism, 1917-1953 -- CHAPTER FOUR Reciprocal Accountability, 1953-1986 -- CHAPTER FIVE Balanced Leadership, 1953-1986 -- CHAPTER SIX Institutionalized Stagnation -- CHAPTER SEVEN The Domestic Policy Spiral -- CHAPTER EIGHT The Dialectics of Military Planning -- CHAPTER NINE The Failure of Constitutional Reform,1987-1991 -- CHAPTER TEN Can Authoritarian Institutions Survive? -- Notes -- Select Bibliography -- Index Summary Why did the Soviet system fail? How is it that a political order, born of revolution, perished from stagnation? What caused a seemingly stable polity to collapse? Philip Roeder finds the answer to these questions in the Bolshevik "constitution"--The fundamental rules of the Soviet system that evolved from revolutionary times into the post-Stalin era. These rules increasingly prevented the Communist party from responding to the immense social changes that it had itself set in motion: although the Soviet political system initially had vast resources for transforming society, its ability to transform itself became severely limited. In Roeder's view, the problem was not that Soviet leaders did not attempt to change, but that their attempts were so often defeated by institutional resistance to reform. The leaders' successful efforts to stabilize the political system reduced its adaptability, and as the need for reform continued to mount, stability became a fatal flaw. Roeder's analysis of institutional constraints on political behavior represents a striking departure from the biographical approach common to other analyses of Soviet leadership, and provides a strong basis for comparison of the Soviet experience with constitutional transformation in other authoritarian polities.--Publisher description Analysis Administrative Organs Department Bunce, Valerie Cabinet of Ministers Central Asian republics Central Control Commission Council of the Federation Hosking, Geoffrey Jones, Ellen Kommunist Komsomol Ministry of State Farms Organization Party Work Department Orgburo Politburo Procuracy Rush, Myron Savinkin, Nikolai I Socialist Revolutionary party United Opposition Willerton, John P Zemtsov, Ilya Zimyatin, Leonid accountability armed forces balancing clientelism constitution democratic centralism disqualification of leaders economic priorities forced departicipation generalist and specialist roles great man theories institutionalization integrated electoral machine learning theory logrolling loose coupling military thought normal politics partisan analysis political interests model power and authority regimes revenue-seeking state selectoral motivation selectorate sovnarkhozy stagnation unenfranchised participants vice-president of the USSR Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-310) and index Notes English Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed Subject Constitutional history -- Soviet Union Authoritarianism -- Soviet Union HISTORY / Europe / Russia & the Former Soviet Union Authoritarianism Constitutional history Politics and government SUBJECT Soviet Union -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125832 USSR Subject Soviet Union Form Electronic book LC no. 2021701240 ISBN 9781400843817 1400843812 9780691033068 0691033064

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