Goldenes Zeitalter der Stagnation?

The rule of Leonid I. Brezhnev is characterized by a central paradox: In an intentional departure from Nikita Khrushchev, the political leadership was striving to establish a new era of stability and predictability. For this reason, the 1970s are today remembered by many Soviet citizens as a »Golden Age« of rising living standards and material prosperity.
On the other hand, however, Soviet society underwent a process of accelerated social change, in which established patterns of legitimization as well as economic and political controls failed. Thus, at the end of the 1970s discussions about the deficits of the Soviet order and possible solutions emerged.
This volume approaches the »hyperstability« characteristic of the Brezhnev era by several case studies on large-scale projects, urban planning, dissidents, artists, and foreign policy experts. It aims to identify the specifics of the Brezhnev era, demonstrates new perspectives for further research and scrutinizes the dominant interpretation of the Soviet Union under Brezhnev as the »era of stagnation«.