Citation

Lock P. J. Peace Res. 1994; 31(3): 351-357.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0022343394031003008

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Social science in general and peace research in particular have developed only insufficient tools with which to analyse Soviet-type societies. The confusing diversity of regions and nation-states on the territory of the former Soviet Union requires a meticulous analysis of its foundations, as a free discourse has become possible. The Soviet economy and the behavioural marks it burdened its people with will codetermine the transition towards a market-oriented economy. It is therefore most welcome that a number of recent publications highlight the mechanisms and institutional arrangements, some of which will last for a long time. Jacques Sapir's approach interpreting the Soviet economy as a cyclical spiral of priority regulation, 'l'economie mobilisee or permanente Kriegswirtschaft', is a powerful analytical instrument with which to capture the essence of the system. Unfortunately the successors of the old 'Sovietology', the 'big bang' consultants, have so far paid little attention to the historical strings attached to their subject. Returning to Gerschenkron's analysis of economic backwardness dramatically highlights the dangers of 'ignoring the basic peculiarities' of Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union.