Authors: Gladys D. Ganley
ISBN-13: 9781567501988, ISBN-10: 1567501982
Format: Paperback
Publisher: ABC-Clio, LLC
Date Published: January 1996
Edition: New Edition
. . .Ganley has marshaled an extrodinary range and volume of information and presents the story with bolth clarity and drama. Unglued Empire offers a gold mine of case-study data for scholars analyzing the interplay of politics and modern communication technology. . . -Technology and Culture. There is no doubt that the growing availability of television and its technology, which made it possible to report scenes instantly, did have an impact on the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev decided that his country needed a dose of openness or Glasnost to modernize society and make the people more supportive of his efforts. In the end, more information about the outside world as well as the inside world helped to bring down the communist party and the Soviet government. This book documents this process, showing how the media's ready availability became such a divisive force in the Soviet Union. Instead of creating a more structured, rigid regime, it did just the opposite. The Soviet Union may well have collapsed of its own weight sooner or later, but there is no doubt that the media, technology and communications accelerated the process, a form of uskoreniie that Gorbachev never intended. Many of the events described in this study have application to other researchers and government officials. The study makes it possible to understand some of the new challenges that regimes wary of criticism will have to face in the future.
Contained in two volumes, 38 articles from books and journals represent writings in the area of economic democracy and workers' self management. Written for the most part by mainstream Western economists, the selections are nevertheless heterogeneous, reflecting alternative approaches, analytical methodology, and personal predilections. A sampling of the sources: American Economic Review, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Journal of Comparative Economics, and Journal of Economic Literature. No index. Distributed by Ashgate. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Foreword | ||
Preface | ||
Acknowledgements | ||
Ch. 1 | Introduction: Background and Beginning of the Gorbachev Era | 1 |
Ch. 2 | Telephones and Facsimile Machines in the Soviet Union | 17 |
Ch. 3 | Computers and Computer Networks | 27 |
Ch. 4 | The Effect of Glasnost on the Soviet Print Media | 49 |
Ch. 5 | Glasnost and Soviet Radio and Television | 69 |
Ch. 6 | The Soviet Press Law of 1990 | 87 |
Ch. 7 | Boris Yeltsin and Information Resources in the Power Struggle with Gorbachev | 97 |
Ch. 8 | A Chill Falls over Glasnost | 107 |
Ch. 9 | Information Handling by the Coup Perpetrators | 127 |
Ch. 10 | Personal and Mass Media and Boris Yeltsin | 139 |
Ch. 11 | The Reaction of the Soviet Print Media | 153 |
Ch. 12 | Reaction of the Soviet Electronic Media | 169 |
Ch. 13 | Communications by Individuals and Various Groups During the Crisis | 185 |
Ch. 14 | Foreign News Services During the Crisis | 195 |
Ch. 15 | The Captive Gorbachev and Communications | 205 |
Ch. 16 | The End of the Union | 213 |
Bibliography of Books, Reports, and Journal Articles | 221 |