Glasnost, Perestroika, and the Socialist Community

This book makes a preliminary assessment of the impact of glasnost, perestroika, and related Soviet reforms on selected socialist countries. The sampling of socialist countries studied are roughly repesentative of the types of socialist states in existence today. The countries studied include Poland, Czechoslovakia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and North Korea. The contributors to this volume approach their topic from varying perspectives, each singling out and examining different areas in the individual governments where the impact of Soviet reforms is likely to be strongest. The result is a number of varying conclusions regarding the effects of glasnost and perestroika on the socialist community. In some cases, the impact might be intentional and direct, part of a concious policy adopted by the Soviet Union. In other cases, the impact may be indirect and even unintentional, given the complex and interdependent nature of world politics and economics. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students with an interest in comparative politics, international relations, and communist studies should find this book useful.