Publisher's Synopsis
The rise and fall of the Soviet Politburo presents a history and political analysis of a remarkable institution. Extensive use of newly accessible Soviet sources has permitted the authors to provide both a comprehensive analysis of the way in which the Politburo operated and a sociological analysis of its membership.;This history of the Politburo is presented in an account that charts its development from its creation by Lenin in 1919. The Politburo was, in the words of the authors, an institution which "subjected the whole of the USSR to its ruthless dictatorship, but itself bowed time and again to the leader of its own making".;This account should be of considerable use to researchers and other students of the former Soviet Union, of communist and post-communist societies, and more generally to political scientists and sociologists.;"John Lwenhardt is Senior Lecturer at the Documentation Office for East European Law at Leiden University and is a specialist in Soviet domestic politics. James R. Ozinga is Professor of Political Science at Oakland University, Michigan. Erik van Ree is a Lecturer at the Institute for Soviet and East European Studies, University of Amsterdam.".
