Soviet Studies: Politics

Abstract

Soviet studies in the West, being to a large extent an outcome of the Cold War between the West and the USSR, served as the ideological and theoretical basis for that war. Soviet studies was a closed area of research, removed from mainstream social science, and it effectively ignored modern research methods. Western Soviet studies, with its zeal and passionate condemnations, was not unlike Soviet social science and its attacks on the Western democratic system. After the fall of Communism, traditional Soviet studies petered out. Effective research into the developments that shaped post-Communist Russia and other successor states of the USSR adopted new approaches developed by Western social inquiry. A complex analysis of post-communism began to develop on the basis of transformation studies across all dimensions: politics, economics, culture, and the social sphere. Social science as practiced in the USSR prior to the fall of Communism was a discipline encumbered by ideological clichés. It was only in the perestroika years that research began to delve into the nature of the Soviet system, its evolution, and its relationship with historical tradition and national characteristics. This has not been an easy process for Russian scholars and many have not been able to break free of Marxist philosophy and social science. Russian social science is still in a transitional phase and its development remains difficult. Russian research is relegated to the periphery of international research. Its investigation of major trends in social development is empirically weak and likewise flawed in a theoretical approach. This is a result of the parochial nature of Russian social sciences, their estrangement from international research, and the belief in a unique Russian experience. The weakness of Russian social science is to a great degree the outcome of the continuing crisis in Russian society and the indifference of authorities and the public to the development of science in general.