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The empire strikes back: the evolution of the Eastern bloc from a Soviet asset to a Soviet liability

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  • Bunce, Valerie

Abstract

The structure of the Soviet bloc would appear to be ideal for the maximization of Soviet domestic and foreign interests. The actual ledger of Soviet gains and losses from control over Eastern Europe, however, reveals a different picture. Over the postwar period Eastern European contributions to Soviet national security, economic growth, and domestic stability have declined. This decline in the value of empire to the Soviets is a function of three factors. The first is growing regime-society tensions in Eastern Europe as a result of East Europe's dependence on the Soviet Union and the derivative structures of its Stalinist political economies. The second is the Soviet role within the bloc as a political and economic monopoly and monopsony. And the third is the unexpected costs, both to the Soviet Union and to Eastern Europe, that attended the bloc's reunion in the early 1970s with a global capitalist system in crisis.

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  • Bunce, Valerie, 1985. "The empire strikes back: the evolution of the Eastern bloc from a Soviet asset to a Soviet liability," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 1-46, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:39:y:1985:i:01:p:1-46_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Erik Gartzke & Dominic Rohner, 2010. "To conquer or compel: war, peace, and economic development," IEW - Working Papers 511, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    2. Gomes, Luiz, 2018. "The collapse of Real Socialism in Eastern Europe: linking external and internal causes," MPRA Paper 87663, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Michael C. Horowitz & Paul Poast & Allan C. Stam, 2017. "Domestic Signaling of Commitment Credibility," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(8), pages 1682-1710, September.
    4. Stephen G. Brooks, 1999. "The Globalization of Production and the Changing Benefits of Conquest," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 43(5), pages 646-670, October.
    5. Rawi Abdelal, 2010. "The Profits of Power: Commercial Realpolitik in Europe and Eurasia," Harvard Business School Working Papers 11-028, Harvard Business School, revised Mar 2011.
    6. Maria Csanadi, 2001. "A Model Explaining Social and Political Change of Party-states Structural and Dynamic Background of Similarities and Differences in Reproduction, reforms, Collapse and Transformation," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0101, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

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