CREECA Lecture Series

Anna Paretskaya, doctoral candidate in sociology at the New School for Social Research. The biggest change that occurred in the last few years of the Soviet Union was the recognition and legitimation of pluralism in most spheres of public life: elections, private enterprises, independent newspapers. This talk, using an array of historical sources, will reveal that Gorbachev’s policies institutionalized and normalized practices and ideas that had emerged years before his ascent.