and what caused glasnost to occur? my answer would involve two interacting factors: (1) the USSR losing the Cold War and (2) the USSR's planning system and society's internal contradictions. They set the stage for a Gorbachev, a man who thought he could reform the system in order to save it. "too rapid democratization"? could it be instead that the people in power were too reluctant to give in? Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine
________________________________ From: PEN-L list on behalf of Chris Doss Sent: Sat 1/22/2005 8:57 AM To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: Re: [PEN-L] a pretty good editorial --- "Devine, James" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > FWIW, I didn't write that. I know. -- The fact is that the USSR collapse was largely or partly a result of the Cold War (specifically, in Afghanistan). --- This is pretty open to debate -- Gorbachev himself denies it. But then he himself is an interested party. The USSR collapse I think was largely the result of too-rapid democratization couples with a denial of the nationalities issue. (That is, glastnost allowed radical nationalist and secessionist currents to flourish.) ===== Nu, zayats, pogodi! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo
