The operation failed, but the patient survived. Varying assessments of theSoviet Union's last anti-alcohol campaign

From the mid 1980s mortality levels have fluctuated greatly in the former S oviet Union. After dropping substantially during the late 1980s, mortality rose to unprecedented levels during the early 1990s. The sharp fluctuations in mortality are commonly linked to variations in alcohol consumption in c onnection with the anti-alcohol campaign launched in 1985. This large-scale natural alcohol policy experiment has: produced very mixed appraisal and t his article provides a systematic review of the wide variety of judgments, focusing on goals, implementation, and effects on life expectancy, alcohol consumption, mortality, crime, etc. Deviant evaluations are in part ascriba ble to a general schism between narrowly focused epidemiological perspectiv es on public health interventions and broader social science approaches to political reform. (C) 2001 The Regents of the University of California. Pub lished by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.