ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with Gorbachev's role. It discusses the loss of legitimacy. The chapter emphasizes the economic causes for the collapse of the Soviet-type regimes in general. It develops Di Palma's notion of legitimacy from the top. The chapter describes the term "ideological legitimacy" to "legitimacy from the top". It discusses the support for two main elements of ideological legitimacy: the monopoly of Truth and legitimacy based on meeting economic goals. The chapter examines the empirical evidence for Di Palma's conclusions that society became more critical and that the regimes lost confidence in their ability to rule. It also examines the dissidents, who articulated the public's criticism of the regime. The chapter looks at the available data on public-opinion research to see if the populations had become more critical. While the Central Committee was large organization that only met a few times a year, the Party organs connected to the Secretariat functioned all year long, with their own research institutes.
