2408-932XResearch Result. Social Studies and Humanities2408-932X10.18413/2408-932X-2016-2-2-62-68649RESEARCHESLOOKING BACK: RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT IN THE LATE 1980sLOOKING BACK: RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT IN THE LATE 1980sYanitskyOleg N.YanitskyOleg N.oleg.yanitsky@yandex.ru20162200

The Soviet environmental movement (the EM) has existed for more than 50 years now. It exerted a significant impact on the course of the early years of reforms (perestroika) in the late 1980s, when the author played the roles of the EM researcher, its critic and adviser. The article presents a combination of systematically organized field-research, the study of literature, and the author’s personal experience. The description of approaches and methods, the main features of those turbulent years, the EM’s diversification processes and the relationships with the power structures and other social movements, and the main outcomes of the early years of reforms are the main points of the article. The author concludes that despite all twists the EM has played a significant role in the perestroika processes.

The Soviet environmental movement (the EM) has existed for more than 50 years now. It exerted a significant impact on the course of the early years of reforms (perestroika) in the late 1980s, when the author played the roles of the EM researcher, its critic and adviser. The article presents a combination of systematically organized field-research, the study of literature, and the author’s personal experience. The description of approaches and methods, the main features of those turbulent years, the EM’s diversification processes and the relationships with the power structures and other social movements, and the main outcomes of the early years of reforms are the main points of the article. The author concludes that despite all twists the EM has played a significant role in the perestroika processes.

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