Analyzes the interaction between Eastern European and Soviet political and economic reform, emphasizing Soviet actions under the present regime. It deals with the consolidation of party power, the attempts to legitimize authority, new Soviet rules and procedures, and various philosophies of reform.

Analysis of the ideologycal and political aspects of the reform of economic systems and economic administration in Eastern European countries - discusses the reform alternatives of a planned economy system, the extent of decentralization, particularly in respect of economic planning, the impact of the CMEA economic integration programme, etc. References.

In this volume the perceptive reader will find many clues to the future of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, East-West economic relations and the impact of governments in this area. The authors are aware of the mistakes of the past, the limitations of centralized planning, the dangers and the futility of confrontation; and the global significance of the new roles that governments must play in the transitional period of political and economic reform in the East.

A collection of 16 essays written over the period 1984 to 1996, and so preserving perspectives at different stages of what we now know was the decline and breakup of the socialist economies of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. They consider failures and their causes of political economy reform, determinants of the collapse of the system, and the feasibility of the process of systemic change. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR