On Aug 18, 2011, at 11:03 AM, SA wrote:
> For what it's worth, here's Archie Brown:
>
>> The Cold War almost certainly did more to keep Communist systems going than to bring them down. The ever-present threat of an external enemy was used as a justification for highly authoritarian (at times totalitarian) rule. Political dissent was portrayed as a betrayal of the 'socialist motherland' and the external threat was used to justify censorship and restrictions on foreign travel. What Communist systems were far less equipped to survive was closer contact with more prosperous democratic countries and a marked relaxation of international tension. Thus, insofar as President Reagan contributed to the demise of Communism, it was not so much (as is widely believed) by his perceived contribution to making the Cold War colder between 1980 and 1984, but by helping, in partnership with Gorbachev, to ensure that it came to a peaceful end.
That's a different point. Starting with the Reagan buildup, the Soviet elite worried about falling technologically behind the U.S. in the arms race. That was one of the prods to "reform."