Geoffrey Hosking, Professor of Russian History at University College London, discusses the changes in Soviet society in his first Reith lecture from the series entitled 'The Rediscovery of Politics'.

In this lecture entitled 'A Great Power in Crisis', Professor Hosking discusses the relationship between the Soviet economy and the 'glasnost'. This transparency of government institutions, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev to reduce corruption, has had a fractious effect on society. He asks is this great power in a crisis?