Handbook of Political Science Research on the USSR and Eastern Europe: Trends from the 1950s to 1990s

(Hardback)

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How accurately did Western political scientists portray the political, economic and social developments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe over the last 40 years How did scholars' perspectives, methods, and findings differ, and what were the principal research trends during the Communist era that recently ended in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union This critical history of Soviet studies aims to take stock of the achievements and shortcomings in Western research on the region's politics. It serves as a "who's who" of Western Sovietologists, and it identifies many prominent political scientists from the former Communist states. The reference opens with an overview of sources of research, an analysis of different approaches and perspectives in the study of the region since 1956, and an assessment of post-sovietological literature of the 1990s. The volume contains individual chapters on the former USSR and the eight East European states. Cross-national chapters include two on Soviet and East European international politics, two on Soviet and East European economic reforms, and one on comparative Communist studies. An appendix points to Russian and East European research centres and programs around the world. A general index is intended to make it easy to access the names of authors and subjects. The reference should prove to be stimulating reading for the many political scientists, historians, sociologists and economists, once engaged in Soviet studies and for the new generation of scholars who are bringing fresh analytical approaches to evaluating the region's politics.

Reviews

. . . this is a useful guidebook for students of the Soviet period.-Choice
." . . this is a useful guidebook for students of the Soviet period."-Choice

Author Bio

RAYMOND C. TARAS, has served on the faculty of universities in Canada, England, and the United States. Most recently, he has been National Fellow at the Hoover Institute on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University. He is the author, editor of a number of books on communist and post-communist states, including The Road to Disillusion: From Critical Marxism to Postcommunism in Eastern Europe (1992) and Nations and Politics in Soviet Successor States (1992).