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.
“Much food for thought. The speculations of such as Michael Voslensky, Richard Lowenthal, Leszek Kolakowski, Peter Wiles and Anatoly Tedoseyev cannot be easily ignored.”–Foreign Affairs
“Those responsible for the conference and for this book have provided a noteworthy service in persuading some of the world’s leading Soviet scholars to speculate on the nature of a post-Soviet world....The result provides stimulating reading on the future of the Soviet system.”–ORBIS
Vol. 1. The Soviet System: Stasis & Change
In this insightful collection of essays on the future of the U.S.S.R., editor Shtromas presents the persuasive yet sometimes conflicting views of a number of first-rate scholars such as R.V. Burks, Anatoly P. Fedoseyev, and Eugene Kamenka, on the U.S.S.R.’s true direction as it entered the 1990's. Included are a detailed analysis of stability problems in the Russian system, a discussion of prospects for political change, an airing of possible alternatives to present-day Soviet policy–and a number of intriguing prophesies. An appendix on American research and instruction in the Soviet Union, notes on contributors, and an index are also included.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I: The Nature of the Soviet System
1. The Soviet System: Historical and Theoretical
Evaluation
Michael Voslensky
2. Beyond the “Institutionalized Revolution” in Russia
and China
Richard Lowenthal
3. A Theoretical Evaluation Without Historical Contents–A
Commentary on Section 1
Richard Lowenthal
4. Rejoinder to Lowenthal’s Commentary
Michael Voslensky
5. The Necessary Conditions for Characterizing a
State as Totalitarian–A Commentary on Section 1
Morton A. Kaplan
6. On Totalitarianism and the Prospects for Institutionalized
Revolution in the U.S.S.R. and China–A Commentary on Sections 1 and 2
Alexander Shtromas
7. On Different Types of Modern Dictatorships–A Rejoinder
Richard Lowenthal
8. Communism as a Cultural Phenomenon
Leszek Kolakowski
9. Human Rights and the Soviet Future
Eugene Kamenka
Part II: Crisis of the Soviet System
1. The Coming Crisis in the Soviet Union
Richard V. Burks
2. The Economic Crisis in the U.S.S.R.–A Commentary
on Section 1
Peter J.D. Wiles
3. The Function and Fate of Law in the Transition
to the Post-Soviet Era
Ferdinand J. M. Feldbrugge
Part III: Prospects for Transition
1. How the End of the Soviet System May Come About:
Historical Precedents and Possible Scenarios
Alexander Shtromas
2. How The “End of the Soviet System” May Come
About–A Commentary on Section 1
Richard V. Burks
3. A Realistic Vision of Change–A Commentary on Section
1
Alexander J. Matejko
Part IV: The Alternative
A: The Visions
1. Images of the Soviet Future: The Western Scholarly
Debate
Terry McNeill
2. Images of the Soviet Future: The Emigre and Samizdat
Debate
Vladislav Krasnov
B: The Proposals
1. Introduction to Section 1
Alexander Shtromas
2. The Passage to New Russia and Some Thoughts on
its Alternative Constitutional Order
Anatoly P. Fedoseyev
3. Law and the Soviet State–Some Thoughts about the
Future
Alice Erh-Soon Tay
4. Soviet Constitutional Law–What Must Be Abolished
or Changed and What Can Be Retained?
Georg Brunner
5. Prospects for the Reception of Soviet Law after
the Collapse of the Soviet System
Olimpiad S. Joffe
Appendix
American Research and Instruction on the Soviet Union: Some Reflections
Robert F. Byrnes
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.
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