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Article: R.I.P. Kremlinology; With Glasnost, Who Needs to Read Tea Leaves?
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 14, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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NOT LEAST among Mikhail Gorbachev's accomplishments is that he
has killed Kremlinology, the strange science that sought to
understand Soviet policy by piecing together a jigsaw of facts and
hints about the Soviet leadership. Kremlinology, which thrived in a
vacuum of real information, became increasingly irrelevant with the
shift to greater openness.
In its classic form, Kremlinology had two essential ingredients:
It treated the top Soviet leadership as a Byzantine court in which
policy making was confined to a small and identifiable number of key
party members and bureaucrats; and it tried to circumvent the
secrecy surrounding the Soviet leadership by unearthing every scrap
of ...