katastroika

n. In the former Soviet republics, a disastrous government reform or change, esp. the perestroika movement of the 1990s and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Also catastroika. Subjects: Russian, Russia, Derogatory

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Citations: 1989 Richard I. Kirkland Jr. Fortune (New York City) (June 19) “How China’s Chaos Affects the West” p. 77: While Gorbachev’s political reforms are breathtaking, his economic perestroika appears overly cautious and utterly ineffectual. French scholar Jacques Rupnik has suggested a new label: catastroika. The sprawling Soviet empire—full of fractious Ukrainians, Armenians, Tatars, and other nationalities—constantly threatens to come apart at the seams. 1990 Jonathon Steele Guardian (U.K.) (Mar. 9) “Five Years of Gorbachev: Soviet fears of katastroika”: In the first phase of Mr Gorbachev’s rule, some Russians thought that glasnost was just a trick to get the reformers to stick their heads above the parapet and identify themselves. “Perestrelka,” said the satirists, meaning a general shoot-up. Now the joke is at the expense of the economic collapse: “katastroika.” 1991 Desmond Christy Guardian (U.K.) (Oct. 18) “Europe: Light at the Opera—Gazetta”: Catastroika. A mixture of catastrophe and perestroika, it is used by Alexander Sinoviev in the title of a satirical novel he wrote in 1989. 2004 Mark G. Field New England Journal of Medicine (July 8) “HIV and AIDS in the Former Soviet Bloc” vol. 351, no. 2, p. 120: The threats in the region from AIDS and other epidemics are potentially dire. Prophecies are always hazardous, but in the former Soviet Bloc, the outlook for the next few decades is perhaps best characterized by a Russian neologism invented to describe the adverse effects of the disintegration of the Soviet system: “katastroika.”

Posted 11 Jul 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend