Suchergebnisse

SOVIET POLICIES TOWARD THE RUSSIAN JEWISH POPULATION ARE EXAMINED AND ASSESSED, INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT'S IDENTIFICATION OF JEWS AS A DISTINCT ETHNIC GROUP, ITS CONTROL OF MANIFESTATIONS OF JEWISH CULTURE, AND A RECENT UPSURGING OF ACTIVE ANTI-ZIONISM. EMIGRATION POLICIES ARE EXPLORED, AND THE AUTHOR SUGGESTS THAT, FAR FROM EASING TENSIONS, THEY HAVE WORKED TO INCREASE THEM.

EASTERN EUROPE WAS RIPE FOR MASSIVE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE MANY YEARS BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1989. THE MARXIST-LENINIST REGIMES LACKED POLITICAL LEGITIMACY, THEY FAILED TO SOLVE FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC PROBLEMS, AND THEIR IDEOLOGY WAS BANKRUPT. WHEN THE SOVIET LEADERSHIP DECIDED THAT IT WOULD NO LONGER PROP UP THESE REGIMES, THEY FELL IN RAPID ORDER. WITH THE DEMISE OF COMMUNIST POWER IN THE REGION, TWO BROAD SYSTEMS WILL COMPETE FOR EASTERN EUROPE'S FUTURE: POLITICAL DEMOCRACY AND AUTHORITARIANISM UNDERPINNED BY NATIONAL CHAUVINISM. THUS, THE DIVERSITY THAT CHARACTERIZED EASTERN EUROPE IN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD MAY PREVAIL ONCE AGAIN.