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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to expose librarians, scholars and other interested parties to the numerous films available concerning the 1989 and 1991 European revolutions. The films that are discussed can potentially be used as ancillary sources that will lead to a more in-depth understanding of these topics. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is a literature review examining films relating to the 1989 and 1991 revolutions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The findings are presented in the form of an annotated bibliography. Findings: A total of 24 films from eight countries are presented in this annotated bibliography. Originality/value: In researching this paper, the authors have been unable to find any similar works, which makes this work of particular value to those wanting to learn more about this period of change in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s tens of millions of young people took part in the Communist Youth League's 'All-Union Tours around Sites of Military Glory', visiting former battle sites, walking old partisan trails, uncovering soldiers' remains, and meeting with war veterans. This was a prominent facet of the 'cult' that the Soviet regime built around the Second World War during the Brezhnev era, and it was also a crucial feature of work aimed at ensuring young people grew up to be good communists and loyal Soviet citizens. Based upon archival research conducted in several former Soviet republics and Russian regions, this article demonstrates that these tours and the wider war cult which they formed a part of were about much more than simply creating a new legitimizing myth for a system running out of ideological energy. They helped fulfil vital state tasks, like preparing youth for military conscription and caring for veterans, they served as a means of shaping young people's outlook on their country and the world, and they helped knit together the social fabric of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the emergence of Chernogolovka, a scientific town near Moscow, during Khrushchev’s thaw. Nikolai Semenov, the founder of the town, relied on the Khrushchev regime’s fascination with modern science, its interest in expanding the scientific enterprise, and the more relaxed atmosphere of the thaw to transform what the Soviet state intended to be a military testing ground into a renowned scientific centre. This case study demonstrates that there was space for individual initiatives in the post-Stalinist system, as long as they came from well-connected individuals and conformed to the political and ideological objectives of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the history of public diplomacy in Russia. The wide scale adoption of public diplomacy in modern Russia is attributed to the opening of the country's borders and the development of civil society. The impact of the disintegration of the Soviet Union into separate independent states on Russian public diplomacy is also discussed.

The article identifies some of the lessons learned from the end of the Cold War. It relates the Cold War to the cause of the Ukraine crisis and the involvement of Russia in the crisis. Also discussed are the connection between the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the benefit of the end of the Cold War to China.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Empire in 1989, followed by Yugoslavia, many otherwise secure countries have been collapsing and splitting apart. The maps in the Middle East are continually being redrawn, more often than not, in blood. Scotland is poised to break away from the UK, Catalonia from Spain, and here at home several states toy around with secession. Much of this turmoil on the macro level seems to dovetail with my present focus on the micro. Whether the two are related in some fashion is tantalizingly beyond the present scope. In this paper my micro-purpose is to delve into the deeper recesses of our public life and explore the intra-psychic fissures. The key concept for this quest is a relative newcomer to psychoanalytic nomenclature: the borderline. Coming to the fore in the 1970s, the term addresses the widespread splitting both within the self and in relationships, manifest in either-or, all-or-nothing ideation, along with an impulsivity that further distances actions from consequences. These and related features are conducive to an anything-goes politics ofus-against-them. Richard Hofstadter's 1965 "paranoid style," of political leaders is recalled and modified to a borderline-mode factored into a psychohistorical dynamic which construes politicians as delegates for group-fantasy. Recent presidential elections offer a rich field for testing the aptness of this approach. Then, after brief detours into how Freud and Darwin disrupted polarizing forces in their own cultures, we revisit political turmoil during the Woodrow Wilson years for historical similarities and differences in which repeated recourse to purity serves as a bridge word. The inquiry closes with reflections on how psychohistory may avoid pitfalls in further probing this vexing state of affairs and primes the reader to ponder whether the disaffected young males drawn to ISIS are functioning on borderline levels. If so, we have a plausible bridge between macro and micro realms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 forced museums and other guardians of the nation's cultural heritage to reassess their priorities and develop new, nonideological missions in presenting their collections to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It can be argued that the Collapse of the Soviet Union was the most important historical event of the past 50 years. This study assessed the mnemonic impact of this event in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan. It involved three tasks. First, participants thought aloud as dated autobiographical events. Second, they drew a personal timeline. Finally, they answered questions concerning the psychological and material consequences of the Collapse. Across the samples, we found (1) the Collapse was almost never used as a temporal landmark, (2) it was rarely included in timeline drawings, and (c) participants did not experience the Collapse as a major life-changing event. These findings argue against the Proportionality Assumption-the notion that the mnemonic impact of a public event is related to its historical importance. Instead, they suggest that historically significant events play an important role in autobiographical memory only when they dramatically affect people's material circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, "independent statehood came suddenly and unexpectedly to the five former Soviet Central Asian Republics (CARs) - Kazakhstan, The Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan."1 To Western observers, the collapse of this "vast, multinational state" signaled the "rejection of the Soviet system in favor of Western political and economic institutions."2 However, in most of these republics, the Communist Party leadership remained in power after independence.3 Scholar Alexander Cooley writes that Central Asia is distinct from post-Soviet counterparts in Eastern Europe (especially Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - now European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization members) in that Central Asia has largely "failed to make meaningful progress in enacting political and economic liberalization."4 Indeed, of the nine states that Freedom House classified as "the worst of the worst" in 2013, two are post-Soviet Central Asian states.5 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bilge Strateji is the property of BILGESAM and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bilge Strateji is the property of BILGESAM and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article analyzes the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 on the economy of Cuba. It highlights the performance of Cuba's real gross domestic product (GDP) from 1990 to 2013. Other topics discussed include the country's infant mortality rates and life expectancy at birth, a contraction of its import capacity and the effort to maintain employment and welfare provision.

The article discusses the shifting or disappearance of international boundaries since World War II. The implications of the annexation of Crimea (Ukraine) to Russia in early 2014 is mentioned. Topics include the creation or disappearance of nations after the fall of the Soviet Union (1989-1991) such as East Germany (RDA), the annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights by Israel on December 14, 1981, and the division of South and North Korea. The effects of communism and decolonization are also discussed.

An April 1, 2013 interview with Ukranian poet and translator Yuri Andrukhovych is presented. Andrukhovych discusses his time in Pennsylvania from 2000-2001 and his impression of the United States. He also discusses his choice to translate American poetry from the 1950s and 1960s, with a focus on Beat poetry, the relationship between Ukraine and Russia, and the cultural significance of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The article presents a study which examines the political thought of democratic intellectuals Leonid Batkin, Igor' Klâmkin, and Andrej Nujkin written in articles published during the Perestroika era in the Soviet Union, from 1989 to 1991. The legitimacy and authority of Democracy, publicistika, or opinion journalism, as a dominant genre in the public sphere during that time, and Democracy as a product of a society's natural evolution are discussed.

The aim is to present a conceptual and historical reconstruction of Gorbachev's notion of a ‘European home’, its underlying philosophy of history as well as its relation to Russian cosmism. The concept is contextualised within the convergence debate of the post-war period, in which a rapprochement between communism and capitalism was posited. The essay concludes with reflections on what the conceptualisation can tell us about the fall of communism and what impact the concept has had on today's search for a common European identity. An argument is advanced that the notion contained paradoxes that rather contributed to the dislocation of post-Soviet Russia from Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Some of the scholarship on the former Soviet Union—specifically that of Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff as well as that of David Kotz and Fred Weir—has given inadequate attention to the role of the Chernobyl disaster in its collapse. While Kotz and Weir understand the former Soviet Union as a system of state socialism, Resnick and Wolff analyze it as a system of state capitalism. Though they provide different explanations for its collapse, neither set of authors adequately addresses the role of Chernobyl. This is unfortunate, as the Chernobyl disaster may have been a significant contributing factor in its collapse and transition to private capitalism. The Fukushima disaster may have similar implications for Japanese society and may lead to a deeper questioning of its capitalist system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the life and work of 20th century Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski. The author comments on the major events reported by Kapuscinski, including the Latin American revolutions, Polish Solidarity, Communism, and the fall of the Soviet Union. She also considers the controversial aspects of Kapuscinski's reporting, citing questions of objectivity and subjectivity as well as historical revisionism. Kapuscinski's style of reportage literature and the relationship between history and journalism is also explored.

The author assesses the prospects of a "second perestroika" based on his interpretation of modern Russian history in terms of the concepts of revolution and counterrevolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the downfall of the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes in 1989 in Eastern European satellite states. The author argues that this collapse and the subsequent end of the Cold War mainly came about because of foreign policy reforms instituted by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, as opposed to increased public opposition to Communist rule in these countries. The relationship between policy, protest, and a lack of dedication among Communist leaders within the Warsaw Pact countries is explored.

This historiographical article examines the development of the study of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The analysis is sociological in nature, with the author emphasizing cultural reasons for the dissolution of Soviet power and the end of a specifically Soviet way of life. The author goes on to describe how scholars studying the Soviet Union after 1991 formulated an understanding of Soviet power. She is fairly critical of the work of Sovietologists, who largely focused on economic and structural reasons for collapse. Other topics discussed include perestroika reforms, the leadership of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and the symbolic power of the Communist Party.

The article discusses the effects of Cuba's economic crisis on the lives of its citizens. It states that the country's economic woes, which began after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, have changed the lives of Cubans in every way. Many Cubans, who previously relied on the government before the crisis, have resorted to illegal business in order to survive. There are, however, still those who have faith in the system despite the deteriorating economy and health care system.

The article reprints several Soviet-era documents from the period 1990 to 1991. Articles include "On Restoring the Independence of the Lithuanian State," issued March 11, 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Lithuania, "Appeal to the People of the Republic of Lithuania," issued on March 31, 1990 by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, an address to the Soviet Union by Gorbachev on February 7, 1991, and excerpts from "Message to the Soviet People from the State Committee for the State of Emergency," issued August 18, 1991 by the Soviet Union's Committee on the State of Emergency. All have been reprinted under arrangements with the Web site www.soviethistory.org.

The article presents a timeline of notable events that occurred during the final year of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' (USSR's) existence between the dates January 8, 1991 to December 26, 1991.

While the collapse of the Soviet Union altered tremendously the configuration of power in Eurasia, the nationality issues that played such a critical role in fueling the Soviet collapse have hardly dissipated, but remain very much a part of the Eurasian landscape. Issues associated with cultural difference are openly discussed, and groups engage in autonomous self-organization in ways that could not have been imagined in Soviet times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of the Soviet Union cannot be blamed on Gorbachev. Any "guilt" he should bear for the dissolution of the Soviet state lies in his making it possible by removing citizens' fear of the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of the Soviet Union was the product of a multifaceted struggle for power between the center (Moscow) and the extensive periphery. The August putsch was the critical tipping point at which the advantage shifted from Gorbachev to Yeltsin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hindsight, the 1991 coup attempt, alleged or real, was just an episode in the game of Kremlin power politics. Although it resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the wild economic chaos of the 1990s, little, if any, progress has been made in democratic political reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Boris Yeltsin and the United States failed to take full advantage of the window of opportunity between the August 1991 putsch and the collapse of the Soviet Union four months later. Bolder political action, greater economic reform, and more generous Western assistance might have precluded Russian resentment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990/91 a master narrative about the Western German Peace Movement of the early 1980s has been established almost without objection: It sees this protest movement through the lens of the Cold War and interprets it as being "infiltrated" by Communists. Here in contrast, the engagement of Communist groups within the wider protests against the NATO Double-Track Decision is seen as part of the disparate social movements of the 1970s under the perspective of social and cultural history. This simultaneously sheds new light on the crisis of the Western alliance since the middle of this decade and the subsequent controversies about the understanding of "security" in the Federal Republic and the GDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the late 1960s until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, numerous composers, especially those belonging to the generation born in the 1930s and commonly referred to as non-conformist, 'avant-garde' or 'unofficial', produced over 100 religious musical works. Some of these composers, such as Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) and Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) employed the controversially flamboyant polystylistic compositional idiom to express their faith in God. Because the merits of the employment of mimetic polystylism in the realm of sacred music have rarely been analysed, my aim is to demonstrate that, in the Soviet context, it was a very appropriate vehicle for conveying religious sentiments by musical means, as it enabled the composers to express their beliefs, but also to narrate related stories. I shall address this issue by analysing three pieces: Arvo Pärt's Credo for piano solo, chorus and orchestra (1968), and the Credo movements from Alfred Schnittke's Requie m (1975) for three sopranos, contralto, tenor, mixed choir and instrumental ensemble, and Second Symphony 'St Florian' (1979) for mixed chamber choir and large orchestra. The reason for choosing the Credo 'genre' is that by definition it is a manifesto of the composer's faith in God, and hence it bears exceptional moral and spiritual weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nineteen eighty-seven was a watershed year in the Soviet Union, as Premier Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika initiatives began to change the face of this closed society. On the citizen diplomacy front, the year featured one of the largest-ever initiatives between American and Soviet citizens, the American–Soviet Walk, the first of numerous walks of that scale to take place in the ensuing years. The five-week walk not only pushed the limits of this fledgling openness and democratization but also tread well beyond the traditional, safe conventions of small-scale citizen exchange. This article explores what made these walks unique, from an unexpectedly large peace rally in Novgorod, to an illegal peace demonstration in Red Square, to public meetings with dissidents. It concludes by exploring the deep cultural differences among the citizen representatives from both countries and whether the walks provide a model for future citizen diplomacy when tensions are high between rival countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to evaluate the scope and limits of the Russian state's capacity to use oil and natural gas as strategic resources to revive Russia's fortunes as a credible global power. It offers an analysis of the evolution of state-markets interactions in the energy sector from the late Gorbachev era to the present day. The paper briefly documents how Russian foreign policy became more assertive using energy as a strategic resource, particularly in crafting its relations with the European Union. Subsequently, the paper analyzes Russia's limits of using energy as leverage in securing foreign policy objectives. Finally, it points to the impediments to normalizing a Russo-EU energy dialog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While journalists were significant players in Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost (openness), their experience has been underexplored, particularly in non-Russian regions. This study explores Latvia in 1988-91, when a mass movement pushed for independence, and examines the revolutionary nature of the movement and the nationalistic and democratic characteristics of journalism. Thus, it offers a new approach to the study of media and the demise of the Soviet Union beyond the "transition studies" paradigm that has guided most research. It also moves the focus of inquiry away from Moscow and examines key marchers in what Gorbachev called the "parade of sovereignties" that contributed to the Soviet collapse. Most studies have focused on Russian-language, Moscow-based media, despite the significance of others in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's reaction about his book "The Rise of the Global Imaginary" of which its concept on the new political ideologies in the age of globalization was questioned. The author refers to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and the collapse of Soviet Empire in 1991 which enticed the concept among Westerners to be banished to the dustbin of history, as associated with the fall of political ideas due to the downfall of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in the U.S. In addition, the author argues on the new social imaginary about the modern ideological landscapes which increases in frequency across all geographical scales, thus the destabilizes the grand political ideologies through scientific innovation and migration dynamics.

The author discusses the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. Topics discussed include the foreign policy of the country, its international relations with China and U.S., and the national leadership management. Also mentioned are the social aspects of Cold War, the national security management of the Soviet Union, and the importance of international relations management.

A July 1990 cable from the US Embassy in Moscow that anticipated the collapse of the Soviet Union is a case study for an analysis in this article that seeks to make three points: 1) major failures in intelligence analysis are more likely to result when all elements of the intelligence community speak with one voice than when they disagree; 2) embassy reporting can play an essential role independent of that of the intelligence community in shaping Washington thinking about international events, but a variety of developments have made this increasingly difficult; 3) probability analysis plays too great a role in intelligence products and risk management too little. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Mark Kramer, Director of the Cold War Studies Program at Harvard University, is presented. When asked for his thoughts on the Communist bloc in 1989 and its dissolution, Kramer comments on Western policies and governments. He discusses several other topics, including the Soviet Politburo, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev, and Russian reform.

An interview with journal contributor Peter Gowan is presented. Asked about his early life and education, he states that he was born in Scotland and educated at prep school in England and the Imperial Service College, a relic of the British Empire that created a strong orientation toward service to developing countries. He went to the University of Southampton to study Modern History, Politics and Economics and was exposed to Marxism as an analytic tool. He states that the collapse of the Soviet Union was an ideological shock to him. He sees the European Union in 2009 as a negative factor, threatening economic sovereignty of its nation states. He expects that the U.S. will be prevented from adapting to new political and economic realities by its internal politics.

The author reflects on the collapse of communist and authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and how the 1989 revolutions can influence the study of U.S. foreign policy and political science. The article offers an explanation for why social science scholars failed to predict the collapse of communism which includes the ideas that transformative events such as regime change rarely occur and that durability is a safe assumption even among weak regimes. The question of vulnerability in dictatorships and the transition to democracy in the 1990s are mentioned.