14 November 2011
International Conference “The USSR 1989 – 1991: Historical Experience and Lessons for the Future” at the Gorbachev Foundation. 10-11 November 2011Organized by: the Gorbachev Foundation,
the National Security Archive (USA),
the Moscow Carnegie Center
with the participation of:
the International Memorial Society,
the Heinrich Böll Foundation
CONFRENCE PROGRAMME
For a more detailed report on the conference see http://www.gorby.ru/en/activity/conference/show_849/
Thursday, November 10
10:30-11:00 The Opening of the Conference
Olga Zdravomyslova, Thomas Blanton (USA), Marie- Louise Beck (Germany), Dmitry Trenin
Sessions:
11:00-12:30 Political Reforms
Was the political reform inevitable in the mid-1980s?
What were the alternatives to Perestroika?
Assessing the instruments of democratization: glasnost, elections, enhancing the involvement of civil society?
How did various socio-political forces show their commitment in the process of political reforms: the CPSU, intelligentsia, civil rights champions and dissidents, other social strata, including the working class (industrial action), the national movements in the union republics?
Panelists: Michael Dobbs (USA), Maria Lipman, William Taubman (USA), Alexander Shubin, Nikolai Petrov
Moderator: Dmitry Trenin
12:45-14:15 Economy (from a Planned Economy to a Market Economy)
Why not the Chinese model?
Why did the economic reform skid to a halt in 1989?
Assessing the proposed economic reforms: “the Abalkin Plan”, “500 Days”, “Pavlov’s Anti-Crisis Plan”?
Panelists: Evgeny Yasin, Grigory Yavlinsky, Vadim Medvedev, Ruslan Grinberg
Moderator: Martin Gilman (USA)
15:00-16:30 The New Thinking
What were the visions of the European and world future within the framework of the concept of new thinking?
What were the factors that facilitated the elimination of the threat of a nuclear war between the USSR and the USA? What was the role played by the confidence factor?
Why unprecedented success of regional conflicts settlement in 1989-1991 was not repeated in the relations between the USSR and the USA after the collapse of the USSR?
How did the peaceful termination of the Cold War in Europe determine the subsequent development of the international system?
Panelists: Anatoly Chernyayev, Andrei Grachev, David Hoffman (USA), Svetlana Savranskaya (USA), Fyodor Lukyanov
Moderator: Thomas Blanton (USA)
16:45-18:15 The New Thinking (Session continued)
Panelists: Marie-Louise Beck (Germany), Artemy Kalinovsky (USA), Marie-Pierre Rey (France), Malcolm Byrne (USA), Anatoly Adamishin
Moderator: Andrei Grachev
18:30 Dinner
Friday, November 11
Sessions:
10:30-12:00 Society
What was the response of society to the launching of perestroika?
What were changes within Soviet society that determined the need for perestroika and made society ready for reforms?
Glasnost and freedom of speech: intentions and results, their use for constructive and destructive purposes
What was the role played by the concept of the rule-of-law state and of human rights during the years of perestroika? From an upheaval of social militancy to the frustration and apathy in the 1990s: how and why it happened?
Panelists: Katrina vanden Heuvel (USA), Vladimir Mukusev, Alexander Daniel
Moderator: Olga Zdravomyslova
12:15-13:45 The Echo of the USSR’s Collapse
How the topic of the USSR’s collapse is being used in the political and ideological debates in the past 20 years?
How has the comprehension of the causes of the Cold War affected present-day politics?
What are we facing now: a mono-polar world, a multi-polar world or chaos?
A democratic confederative Union of Sovereign States within the united Europe – is this an illusion or a missed opportunity?
Panelists: Stephen Cohen (USA), Alexander Bessmertnykh, Jack Matlock (USA), Thomas Blanton (USA)
Moderator: Sergey Rogov
14:00 Book launch: Russian translation of Superpower Illusions by Jack F. Matlock (Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenia, Moscow, 2011)
Moderator: Pavel Palazhchenko
P.S. Please note that the time limit for the report is 10-12 min and for an intervention in the discussion – 3-5 min.
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The XXI century will be a сentury either of total all-embracing crisis or of moral and spiritual healing that will reinvigorate humankind. It is my conviction that all of us - all reasonable political leaders, all spiritual and ideological movements, all faiths - must help in this transition to a triumph of humanism and justice, in making the XXI century a century of a new human renaissance.
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