The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy

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264 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 11 graphs, 1 tables, notes, bibl., index

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-3017-5
Published: December 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4696-3018-2
Published: October 2016
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-6153-7
Published: August 2020

New Cold War History

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Awards & distinctions

One of the Top 20 Books for Understanding China, China Economic Quarterly

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.

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.

For more information about Chris Miller, visit the Author Page.