Is "Papers, Please" inspired by real events or just the liberal perception of communist states?

This is one of my favorite games of all time, so I may be biased. The game portrays Arstotzka as a flawed country in decline yet still better for its people than every other country on the map. Seeing how the game takes place in the 80s, and that there's a revolutionary group who wishes to combat the corrupt and greedy and bring Arstotzka back to its prime, I'd say it tries to represent the declining Soviet Union.