Gorbachev: The Man and the System

Gorbachev: The Man and the System portrays Gorbachev's rise to power and his tenure in office against the background of a period of critical change and development in the Soviet system. The research is primarily based on Soviet materials, supplemented and critically compared with a wide range of Western press and academic studies. Both Zemtsov and Farrar bring to the analysis their own experiences, acquired under different circumstances.

Part I focuses on a selected chronology of significant events from Gorbachev's assumption of power in March 1985 to June 1987. They examine leadership and personnel changes, the economy, the society, and the arts. Part II takes a look at foreign policies by examining: relations with the United States and the industrialized West; arms control policy; relations with Eastern Europe; relations with the People's Republic of China; and relations with the third world. Part III explores Gorbachev's military policies. Part IV concludes with the authors' assessment of the future. Included in this book are appendices on: changes in the Council of Ministers, Ministers, and Chairmen of State Committees; Politburo and central committee meetings since Gorbachev became General Secretary, through June 1987; and announced changes in the Diplomatic Corps and Foreign Ministry as reported in the Soviet press. The hardcover edition of this book was published in Gorbachev's early years. It thus represents an early assessment, and as such a document of events at the time they occurred.

Ilya Zemtsov was born in the Baku region of Russia. He holds advanced graduate de­grees in philosophy and sociology. Prior to his departure from Russia in 1973, he was a member of the executive board of the Soviet Sociological Association, and di­rector of the department of social science at institutes of higher education in his -native Baku and in Yaroslav. After his emi­gration to Israel, he was a professor at the Hebrew University. Presently, he is the di­rector of the International Research Cen­ter on Contemporary Society, and editor in chief of Crossroads, a quarterly journal issued in England. He has authored sev­eral books on Soviet society and polity, including a major study of Gorbachev pub­lished earlier this year by Transaction. Dr. Zemtsov is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

John H. Farrar was head of the Department of Strategic Studies, IRCCS, until the summer of 1987. Since completing the book, he has joined the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. During his thirty year career in the U.S. Army, he held a variety of positions on the Department of Army staff, in the Defense Intelligence Agency, and at NATO headquarters.