Revisiting the possibility of economic reforms in the pre-perestroika USSR according to the assessments of foreign analysts

Abstract

Aim. The presented study aims to review and analyze the opinions of foreign Sovietologists on the possibility of economic reforms in the late socialist USSR.Tasks. The author examines the opinions of foreign analysts on the permissibility and expediency of reforming the Soviet economic system and their proposals on the possible modernization of the pre-perestroika USSR economy.Methods. The study is conducted as part of a thesis research. The object under study is the foreign historiography of the economic history of the pre-perestroika USSR. Sources of information include official statistics and works of foreign analysts. The author uses general scientific research methods and methods of historical and economic analysis.Results. Estimates and data contained in the analyzed foreign works indicate the need to reform the Soviet economy. However, some researchers admit the possibility of modernizing the economic mechanisms of the Soviet economy within the framework of the existing model.Conclusions. Foreign economists come to a consensus that by the mid-1980s the USSR economy needed to be modernized in order to overcome the decline in economic growth. At the same time, the possibility of reforming the Soviet system continued to be broadly discussed. Foreign analysts point out the need for transformations in the economic system of the Soviet Union. However, none of the researchers admit the possibility of radical reforms due to risks for the economic and political system of the USSR.