Abstract
For me, as a Russian/Soviet specialist in economics, the collapse of the Soviet system offered a wonderful opportunity. It offered the opportunity to reintegrate into our civilization a peoples-ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Baltic peoples, Armenians, Georgians, etc.- who prior to the great disasters of the First World War and the October Revolution of 1917 had contributed so much to European culture and intellectual life. Unfortunately, to date the opportunity has largely not been realized. It has not been realized for a number of reasons including: the terrible legacies left by Soviet rule, the failure to have really removed communists from government, the failure of the West to understand the situation and respond effectively to it and the consequences of unwise policies by the West both in terms of advice offered and in terms of the foolish expansion of NATO in a situation when, for the first time in European history since the fall of Rome, we had an opportunity to have a Europe free from divisive alliances.
Recommended Citation
Wilhelm, John Howard
(2000)
"Projections and Perceptions-Editorial Comment. The Import of the Soviet Collapse for the Social Sciences,"
The Geographical Bulletin: Vol. 42:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/thegeographicalbulletin/vol42/iss2/1