ABSTRACT
The disintegration of the Soviet empire and its Communist ruling-Party, after forty-three years of nuclear-age Cold War, is the overriding event, as well as the unexpected good fortune, of the century’s end. In that perspective, it tends to modify excessive concern with the one-decade march to capitalism and democracy in the transition countries. Still, one tends to forget the near-catastrophe at the abyss, and to return to current speculations. When will Russia succeed in its reforms? What went wrong with its progress? How does its experience compare, not just with the liberated, revived satellites, but with China, the new economic transition-giant commanding the world’s attention? Finally, is it time to reconsider the role of the state, after a prolonged period of free-market, anti-statist ascendancy, not only for transition countries, but for advanced capitalist countries?
