ABSTRACT
A process that goes beyond mere decentralization and marketization of the economy to take on something like the task of "societal institution-building," perestroika will ultimately require a whole new understanding and philosophy of how a society works. One of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's themes has been novoe myshlenie, or new thinking, which conceivably has greater potential for stimulating change than does perestroika itself. Perestroika may be interpreted as a return to the latter approach after the momentous interruption of the Great October Revolution and Stalin's forced industrialization under central control. The Soviet reformers are free to chart whatever path they can persuade the elites and the population to accept. Though the Soviet case has numerous distinctive features, the USSR can learn from the experience of the pioneers, and it is possible that reform there may proceed faster and more directly than it did in Eastern Europe.
