The prospects for democratisation in the Soviet Union: a brief survey of modern Soviet history

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses political change in the Soviet Union through its various stages from the mid‐1980s to the period immediately after the abortive coup in August 1991. Gorbachev's failure to reconcile the contradictory imperatives of freedom and control in economics and politics led to a conservative reaction, which collapsed primarily because of the Soviet economy's dependence on foreign finance and supplies. Finally, the author speculates on the prospects for democracy, to which the establishment of a democratic political culture, economic development, and political leadership will be crucial He concludes on a note of cautious optimism – at least as far as the larger part of the erstwhile Soviet Union is concerned.