Construction, reconstruction, deconstruction

the fall of the Soviet union from the point of view of conceptual history

Kristian Petrov

pp. 179-205

in: Edward Swiderski (ed), Reviewing Perestrojka, Studies in East European Thought 60 (3), 2008.

Abstract

The fall of the Soviet Union is analysed in conceptual terms, drawing on Reinhart Koselleck's Begriffsgeschichte. The author seeks to interpret the instrumental role of the concepts perestrojka, glasnost´, reform, revolution, socialist pluralism, and acceleration in the Soviet collapse. The semantics and pragmatics are related to a wider intellectual and political context, and the conceptual perspective is used to help explain the progress of events. The author argues that the common notion of the reform policy concepts as clichés is not valid.

Cited authors

Koselleck Reinhart