Chernobyl and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

Presentation Type

Oral and/or Visual Presentation

Presenter Major(s)

Social Studies

Mentor Information

Edward A Cole, colee@gvsu.edu

Department

History

Location

Kirkhof Center 2266

Start Date

13-4-2011 4:00 PM

End Date

13-4-2011 4:30 PM

Keywords

Historical Perspectives

Abstract

This paper explores how the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant may have contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Historians have emphasized many factors explaining how and why the USSR imploded, but have paid relatively little attention to the Chernobyl accident. Because the secrecy and authoritarian impulses of the regime ran directly in conflict with the aims of glasnost, it forced the regime to choose between the past and the future, and that choice was key to the fall of the Soviet state.

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Apr 13th, 4:00 PM Apr 13th, 4:30 PM

Chernobyl and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

Kirkhof Center 2266

This paper explores how the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant may have contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Historians have emphasized many factors explaining how and why the USSR imploded, but have paid relatively little attention to the Chernobyl accident. Because the secrecy and authoritarian impulses of the regime ran directly in conflict with the aims of glasnost, it forced the regime to choose between the past and the future, and that choice was key to the fall of the Soviet state.