A primeira imagem e o impacto do fator humano nos processos políticos: Mikhail Gorbatchov e a implosão da União Soviética (1985-1991)

Research output: Types of ThesisMaster's Thesis

Abstract

The great phenomena of International Politics comprise both an impersonal dynamic, mainly linked to a set of structural circumstances, and an individual dynamic, led by political leaders, their mistakes and triumphs. This individual dynamic is the main object of study of this dissertation, in the context of which we refer to the impact of the human factor to reflect on the importance of political leadership in conducting some political processes. Departing from Kenneth Waltz's methodological proposal in Man, the State and War: A Theoretical Analysis on the different levels of analysis in International Relations, the human factor constitutes our lens of analysis on the process that, between 1985 and 1991, culminated simultaneously in the end of the Cold War, in the demonstration of failure of an ideology and in the fall of a septuagenarian empire. Focused on the role played by the last soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbatchov, our reflection will mainly be based on a set of elements linked to this leader's personality and characteristics – his unshakable optimism, his beliefs, the generation to which he belongs and the connections he established throughout his political career with other leaders. It is our understanding that these characteristics are, among other explanatory factors, one of the great interpretive keys to understand how a totalitarian regime could “produce” a leader capable of implementing what started as a plan to recover the purity of Marxism- Leninism and eventually turned into a systemic-level reform, that later culminated in the demise of the Soviet Union. The study of this political leadership and this disruptive process does not aim, however, to demonstrate that all leaders have the same impact in the course of all political processes. Rather, it aims to demonstrate that some leaders are the reason why History is written in one way or another, sometimes opposite.
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Institute for Political Studies
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Franco, Lívia, Supervisor
Award date12 Mar 2021
Publication statusPublished - 12 Mar 2021

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