 | Institutions of Isolation: Border Controls in the Soviet Union and Its Successor States, 1917-1993 Subjects: Soviet Union -- Boundaries; Former Soviet republics -- Boundaries; Soviet Union -- Foreign relations; Soviet Union -- Politics and government; Until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the Soviet Union was one of the most restrictive and powerful states in the world, and border controls were one of the most important symbols of the Soviet repressive apparatus - as the phrase "Iron Curtain" attests. In Institutions of Isolation Andrea Chandler traces the evolution of the U.S.S.R.'s extremely restrictive border control system. |
