The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR

by Chris Miller

Overview

For half a century the Soviet economy was inefficient but stable. In the late 1980s, to the surprise of nearly everyone, it suddenly collapsed. Why did this happen? And what role did Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's economic reforms play in the country's dissolution? In this groundbreaking study, Chris Miller shows that Gorbachev and his allies tried to learn from the great success story of transitions from socialism to capitalism, Deng Xiaoping's China. Why, then, were efforts to revitalize Soviet socialism so much less successful than in China?

Making use of never-before-studied documents from the Soviet politburo and other archives, Miller argues that the difference between the Soviet Union and China--and the ultimate cause of the Soviet collapse--was not economics but politics. The Soviet government was divided by bitter conflict, and Gorbachev, the ostensible Soviet autocrat, was unable to outmaneuver the interest groups that were threatened by his economic reforms. Miller's analysis settles long-standing debates about the politics and economics of perestroika, transforming our understanding of the causes of the Soviet Union's rapid demise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469630182
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/13/2016
Series:	New Cold War History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Chris Miller is assistant professor of international history at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and co-director of the school's Russia and Eurasia Program. He is also Eurasia Director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Miller brings together politics, ideology, and, most importantly, economics to explain one of the most dramatic and consequential developments in recent history—the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of China. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in not only the history of the Cold War, but also the future of the world that awaits us.—Serhii Plokhii, author of The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

The Soviet collapse was the unexpected denouement of the 'short 20th century,' but Miller shows that it was not something willed by Mikhail Gorbachev alone. Rather, the powerful vested interests that resisted fiscal reform—the military and the KGB, the collective farm lobby, and the energy industry—were the real causes of the Russian Katastrophe. This is a meticulous autopsy on homo sovieticus.—Niall Ferguson, author of The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West

While there are plenty of works on Gorbachev and perestroika, none tackle the intellectual and political debates surrounding economic reform the way Miller does in this book. Miller's innovative outlook shows us how the history of reform in the late USSR is entangled with the broader story of contemporary economic transformation in China and beyond.—Artemy M. Kalinovsky, University of Amsterdam

We should be grateful to Miller for providing this account on the factors behind the great divergence of Russian and Chinese economic performance. It is a subject about which we know much too little.—Paul R. Gregory, Stanford University

Editorial Reviews

Miller helps readers understand why communism survived in China but encountered an abrupt and amazing collapse in the former Soviet Union. Highly recommended.—Choice

Miller's work goes a great distance in bettering our knowledge and understanding of the politics behind the Soviet economic collapse.—Reviews in History

Using new archival material, Miller demonstrates that Gorbachev was always much weaker than many realized.—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy

An important contribution to our understanding of the Sino-Soviet interaction and the forces that led to the demise of the Soviet Union.—The Russian Review

This book is clearly written and forcefully argued.—Slavic Review

It is a well-researched, fluidly written, and timely book that is sure to leave its mark on the historiography.—H-Diplo

From the Publisher