A Bad Turn in the Soviet Union

It was always unlikely that the democratization of public life in the Soviet Union would continue if combined with a collapsing economy, a disintegrating political system, and internal separatism. Something had to give, and the most likely victim was democratization. Democratization was in peril as long as economic and political reform did not bring improvements in personal life. Instead, Soviet citizens were assured by foreign and domestic experts that the only possible economic road was a &...