Robert G. Kaiser
Essay
Spring
1991
Explains why Gorbachev must succumb to the power of the political forces he himself set in motion.
Essay
Winter
1988
Surveys Gorbachev's problems in his attempt to reform the Soviet economy. The Stalinist system has produced a demoralized people, incapable of individualism or initiative. While the failure of the Soviet system is recognized by all, efforts to change the attitude of the populace seem, so far, to have been largely unsuccessful. Assistant managing editor, The Washington Post, formerly the paper's Moscow correspondent, 1971-74.
Essay
Winter
1986
Gorbachev is presenting a new picture of his country to both his own people and the West, and has "abandoned the rhetorical style on which he himself and all his countrymen were reared". But his prospects for re-vitalizing the Soviet economy are poor. American policy-makers and public alike remain trapped by a Cold War image of the USSR.
Essay
Special
1980
After the events of 1980 the Soviet Union and the United States both must come to terms with new versions of each other. American hopes for a more reasonable, more conservative Soviet Union finally collapsed, replaced by a new eagerness to contest the Soviets for military superiority and global position. The Soviet leaders discovered both the exhilaration and the pain that accompany the dramatic and unexpected use of power; they were also reminded of the recurring dilemmas that beset any nation that manages a restless empire.
