¹ 3, 2012
DOUBLE PORTRAIT: BREZHNEV–GORBACHEV (II)
Is it an accident that at certain time periods cut by the history it was L.I.Brezhnev and M.S.Gorbachev that became heads of the country? Of course, no. The very fact that both personalities significantly impacted the life of the state and society shows that they were in demand from inside as well as from outside and they were integrated with the nation under those conditions. Without knowing, at least at the approximate level, what kind of people they were it is impossible to imagine the more or less real picture of those times. In the essay by A.Chernyaev written on the basis of his personal memories, the author, who worked within Brezhnev’s group of speechwriters and consultants for more than 10 years and who, after Gorbachev came to power, became his assistant on international affairs, touches upon the whole number of topics that allow to better understand these people as individuals and politicians and to look into their “nitty-gritty of politics”. In the second part of the essay published in this issue (for the beginning see Politeia, 2012, ¹ 2) the author talks about the approaches of two leaders to solving economic problems of our country, analyzes their attitudes in the sphere of ideology and provides overall assessment of the results of their activity.
Alexander Abramovich Galkin, Patriarch of the Russian Political Science, Deputy Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal Politeia, celebrated his 90th anniversary on the 24th of July. The material that is offered to the attention of the readers is composed in the form of the “homage” and presents the collection of texts written by friends, colleagues and students of Alexander Abramovich that tells us about the hero of an anniversary as well as his contribution to the development of the social science knowledge in our country and the emergence of the Russian political science community. The collection contains works by Boris Koval, Anatoly Chernyaev, Tatyana Alekseeva, Kirill Kholodkovsky, Sergey Mikhailov, Aleksey Shestopal, Oksana Gaman-Golutvina, Olga Zdravomyslova and Leonid Blyakher.
¹ 2, 2012
DOUBLE PORTRAIT: BREZHNEV–GORBACHEV (I)
Is it an accident that at certain time periods cut by the history it is L.I.Brezhnev and M.S.Gorbachev that became heads of the country? Of course, no. The very fact that both personalities significantly impacted the life of the state and society shows that they were in demand from inside as well as from outside and they were integrated with the nation under those conditions. Without knowing, at least at the approximate level, what kind of people they were it is impossible to imagine the more or less real picture of those times. In the essay by A.Chernyaev written on the basis of his personal memories, the author, who worked within Brezhnev’s group of speechwriters and consultants for more than 10 years and who, after Gorbachev came to power, became his assistant on international affairs, touches upon the whole number of topics that allow to better understand these people as individuals and politicians and to look into their “nitty-gritty of politics”. In the first part of the essay published in this issue the author talks about personal qualities of two leaders, discusses their positions regarding national issue and problems of “war and peace”, and assesses their foreign political activity.
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Chernyaev Anatoly
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