In the early days of Gorbachev's rise to power in the Soviet Union, an international group of U.S. and Japanese authorities probed the issues and forces that shaped a mammoth struggle within the Soviet Union. This book examines Gorbachev's reforms--the extent of their dramatic changes and the sobering evidence of their limits. The contributors' assessments range from wonder at the new atmosphere and expressive possibilities, to recognition of the reforms' reversibility, increasing difficulty, and the long road ahead. This is a fascinating contemporary review of factors that led to the demise of the Soviet Union only a few years later.

"Perestroika," the transformation of Soviet society and economic relations, epitomized Gorbachev's remedy for the ailing Soviet economy, which developed into a redefinition of Soviet socialism. Gorbachev emphasized that the success of reform depended not only on the technology and money, but also to succeed the reforms must overcome Stalin's legacy of bureaucratic centralism and enlist the creative energies of the Soviet people.

This volume explains why the strength and nature of the reform coalition and anti-reform opposition, the limits and prospects of reform, and the compatibility of decentralizing reforms within the centralized one-party Soviet system and the implications of reforms for Soviet relations with the rest of the world.

Peter Juviler is professor emeritus of political science and chair of the Human Rights Program both at Bernard College. He is the author of numerous books including Freedom's Ordeal: Th e Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy in Post-Soviet States, Human Rights for the 21st Century: Foundations for Responsible Hope, and Revolutionary Law and Order: Politics and Social Change in the USSR.

Hiroshi Kimura is professor emeritus at Hokkaido University as well as the International Center for Japanese Studies. He is the author of Distant Neighbors and co-editor of International Negotiation: Actors, Structural Process, Values.