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Yes / In discussing the implications of Medvedev¿s presidency for NATO¿s future relations with Russia, I will take, as a starting point, an admittedly controversial judgment that the Soviet Union was brought down, not, as many in the West would maintain, by President Reagan, NATO intransigency and Star Wars, nor even by perestroika or `democratization¿, but by Gorbachev¿s policy of glasnost, the very openness that Vladimir Putin appeared bent on eradicating between 2000 and 2008 as he moved Russia back along more traditional authoritarian lines in order to overcome the widespread chaos and insecurity of the 1990¿s. I would argue further that it is disingenuous to ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of Russians today connect openness ¿ which we in the West see as the very life-blood of our civic, democratic and free societies ¿ as a major cause of unprecedented national humiliation, enfeeblement and instability. On the contrary, it is my firm belief that these differing perceptions of openness should be factored into any formulation of an effective NATO policy toward its former long-standing adversary. / Political Committee, NATO Parliamentary Assembly

A restrained relationship between the Soviet Union and Japan, great military and economic powers and geographically close neighbors in Northeast Asia, is an international anomaly of considerable magnitude. Resolution of this anomaly has been delayed for the last forty-five years by several factors, but none more so than that of what has commonly been referred to as the "Northern Territories" dispute. The territorial dispute of the Northern Territories, otherwise known as the four islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai group is discussed in relation to both the historical and contemporary policies of Japan and the USSR. According to the Soviet’s perspective these islands belong to them on the basis of their military annexation in 1945. Japan fails to recognize this sovereignty, hence, leaving Japan and the USSR in a technical state of war, impeding normal Soviet-Japanese relations. Presently, Gorbachev’s policy of Perestroika has indicated the possibility of concessions and rapprochement over the islands after forty-five years of consistent deadlock. This new Soviet policy is aimed at improving relations with Japan and moving toward more economic and political cooperation, allowing the Soviets to participate in the economic prosperity of the Pacific Basin. However, Japan refuses to comply with such concessions, and demands Soviet recognition of the territorial issue prior to negotiations. Furthermore, opposition toward such conciliation exists in the USSR since any concession might lead China and other nations to press their own territorial claims. Thus, the political, economic and strategic implications of the Northern Territories problem ensures that it will remain a critical contemporary geopolitical issue in Northeast Asia. / Master of Science

Since the mid-1960s, the Communist Party and government of the Soviet Union have allocated substantial resources for introducing computers into industrial enterprises. This dissertation assesses the results of this program by addressing three fundamental questions: (1) To what extent have computerized management information systems been absorbed into Soviet enterprises? (2) What has facilitated or hindered absorption? (3) What is the long-range potential for computerized enterprise management information systems (ASUPs)? Although computing has had a revolutionary impact on the way that business is done in the United States, no such effect has been obtained in the USSR. Mainframes have been installed in a relatively small number of large Soviet enterprises, but computing has failed to become an integral part of management with the exception of some routine accounting and planning applications. A handful of time-sharing centers provide computing services for other enterprises. At the superstructure level, which comprises primarily those organizations positioned above the enterprise, the Soviet enterprise is subject to conflicting or misdirected incentives and a great deal of bureaucratic interference. ASUPs have been constrained because informal, marginal, or illegal procedures and relationships necessary to manage Soviet enterprises are not amenable to computerization; the payoff from computing is small, while the risk is great; and other parts of the system have failed to adapt to it. At the infrastructure level, which provides computing services to enterprises, the overall quality of hardware, software, and systems design has been poor. Even within the constraints on applicable usage, ASUPs have failed to live up to their potential. The focus of the Soviet computing effort is shifting away from enterprise management into other areas which are somewhat more isloated from the surrounding system: process control, robotics, and computer-aided design and manufacturing. Further efforts within the ASUP program are being directed towards time-sharing centers to provide services to smaller enterprises and national standards for accounting applications. The incremental absorption of management applications will continue, but without major systemic changes, its impact will remain marginal.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree. of Master of Arts in Russian Studies. Joharmesburq, 1995 / This thesis undertakes to examine the interdependence of ideology and literary scholarship, in particular regarding the legacy of F.M. Dostoevsky, in the Soviet Union; and to investigate the reflection of political and ideological agenda in Soviet literary criticism's interpretations of Dostoevsky's novel, The Devils during the era of glasnost, 1985-1991. I shall isolate, identify and describe the principal, ideological trends reflected in literary critiques and analyses of this novel, published in the Soviet Union during this specific period of time. My thesis will build on and develop previous research conducted around the analysis of Ideological trends in the Soviet Union through a study of literature and official literary criticism. Western commentators, such as B J.Simmons,V. Seduro, and H. Mondry have demonstrated the correlation between. general shifts in Party domestic and international policy and the ideological viewpoints expressed in literature and literary criticism. They have found it to be a valid practice to analyse certain political, social and ideological factors in the Soviet Union through a close study of literature and literary criticism. In continuing this research, I shall demonstrate that Soviet literary criticism during glasnost could still be regarded as a mirror of political and ideological changes in society, and that Soviet criticism's interpretations of Dostoevsky's The Devils could once again be used to help distinguish, delineate and clarify the ideological trends that existed in Soviet Society during this era. I shall begin my analysis with a consideration of the effects of Gorbachev's glasnost reforms on Soviet culture in general, and on literary cd]~'cal practice in particular; and of the role that literary criticism played in Soviet society during this area. I shall then proceed to a brief historical overview of interpretations of The Devils by Russian and Soviet literary critics, from its publication until the eve of the glasnost reforms, This will demonstrate both the manner in which literary criticism has mirrored Ideological trends in the USSR, and the validity of centring my research on this novel. From there, I shall turn to an examination of how interpretations Offered by Soviet literary critics of The Devils, as well as attitudes expressed by them regarding the writer's world outlook, reflected the ideological trends that existed In Soviet society during glasnost. The interpretations to be analysed will be taken from a broad range of Soviet literary periodicals, mono graphs, and discussions, published in the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1992