Beyond Perestroyka

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This book investigates rapid societal change in Russia during the early 1990s. The story of the anthropologist (author) and the people he studied reveals cultural similarities and differences between them. Russians and Latvians taught the author about the Soviet Union, its people, and its cultures. Formal axiology provides a novel way to access their changing values.

Gorbachev and Perestroika goes beyond most other books on perestroika by covering not only the economy but also personnel policy, culture and foreign affairs. It presents a thorough and broad-ranging assessment and analysis of the Soviet Union at a time when the initial excitement of reform is expanding in cultural and intellectual affairs, radical economic experiments are being tried and political opposition is being more openly discussed.

Since Gorbachev came to power much has happened in the Soviet Union. This book provides a comprehensive and composite analysis of the reforms that have taken place in the Soviet Union since 1985.

The momentous changes in the Soviet Union brought about by glasnost and perestroyka have far-reaching implications that continue to grip the attention of the international community. This volume and its companion volume, Politics and People, feature research and analysis of the significant events in the development of the revolutionary reforms in the Soviet Union - from the beginning stage, through the period of great euphoria, to the recent troubled times.