3 Review(s)

This comprehensive survey of the Soviet Union's contemporary political culture contains accounts of a number of facets of Soviet society. It demonstrates the relationships between these various facets in order to provide a rounded picture of the Soviet political environment. The book also sets out to demystify the "superpower" image of the Soviet Union through the use of factual data to highlight its relative strengths and weaknesses. This new edition brings the text up-to-date by examining such topics as the ethnic challenge to Gorbachev, his executive presidency, proposed party structure changes, recent manifestations of glasnost and perestroika and the CPSU programme and rules. It also includes an in-depth analysis of data produced by the 1989 population census.