The End Of Communist Power

(Paperback)

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"Leslie Holmes has brought together the themes of self-accelerating corruption and withering away of legitimation to produce an ingenious and thought-provoking account of the collapse of the communist-ruled states. Original and thoroughly researched, this book will serve as a rich source of reference as well as adding another boost to the ongoing effort of interpretation." - Zygmunt Bauman "University of Leeds" "A most interesting comparative analysis of corruption as a major cause of the collapse of communist societies. Holmes's book is exceptionally well referenced and provocatively argued ...In this book Holmes considers official corruption and campaigns against it, seeing those as symptomatic of a legitimation crisis that developed following the failure of the economic reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. He analyzes the nature of the accelerating legitimation crisis, and shows how it contributed to the wider social collapse. Holmes argues against those who have seen these revolutions as proof of the crisis of modernity; their origins have to be related more specifically to the contradictions of communism itself. Leslie Holmes is Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne.

Author Bio

Leslie Holmes is Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne.