Stalin's Successors: Leadership, Stability and Change in the Soviet UnionCambridge University Press, 1982 M04 30 - 312 pages This book provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which the structure and process of Soviet politics have been transformed since Stalin's death, and particularly during the years of the Brezhnev regime. In explaining the Soviet Union's political stability, the author analyzes the Soviet combination of harsh authoritarian rule with political flexibility in the treatment of its citizens, and he describes the social processes that contribute to this stability. He also analyzes the Soviet perception of the current international situation and discusses trends in Soviet foreign policy, including the imbalance between military power on the one hand and political, economic, ideological, and cultural resources on the other. Professor Bialer explains the Soviet concept of détente and explores the difference between Soviet and American perceptions of this process. A major part of the work is devoted to an examination of the imminent succession of the Soviet leadership. The book gives a profile of the new generation of potential leaders and identifies the characteristics that make them different form those whom they will replace. The Soviet leadership, while embroiled in its succession struggle, will have to make difficult decisions concerning the allocation of national resources and overall changes in management, planning, and incentives. Professor Bialer concludes by analyzing the kinds of economic reform that could make the problems manageable and the conditions under which the new Soviet leadership will need to institute reforms. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Stalinism and the Soviet Political System | 5 |
The Mature Stalinist System | 9 |
Stalin and the Soviet Political Elite | 29 |
Stalinism and the Evolution of the Soviet Polity | 47 |
Succession and Turnover of Soviet Elites | 63 |
The Approaching Succession The Top Leader | 69 |
The Approaching Succession Leadership and Elite Turnover | 81 |
Soviet Political Stability and the Question of Legitmacy | 183 |
Soviet Stability and the National Problem | 207 |
Soviet Perceptions of International Affairs and Trends in Soviet Foreign Policy | 227 |
The Centrality of USSoviet Relations | 233 |
The Arms Race and the Correlation of Forces | 241 |
The Role of the Military Factor in International Relations | 255 |
The Third World and the Translation of Power into Influence | 269 |
Prospects for the 1980s | 281 |
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Stalin's Successors: Leadership, Stability and Change in the Soviet Union Seweryn Bialer No preview available - 1982 |
Common terms and phrases
achieved administration American areas basic behavior Bolshevik Brezhnev era bureaucracy Central Committee Communist Council of Ministers countries CPSU cultural decade decision decline deputy detente discussion dominant economic growth elite system especially factors forces foreign policy functional Gospolitizdat ideological important industrial influence institutions Jerry Hough Khrushchev leadership and elites legitimacy major mass mature Stalinism ment military mobility Moscow nomic non-Russian obkom officials organization participation party apparatus party secretaries pattern percent Politburo political elite political regime political stability political system positions post-Stalin present Presidium problems professional Purge question regard republican republics revolution revolutionary Robert Conquest role RSFSR Russian social socialist Soviet economic Soviet leaders Soviet leadership Soviet perception Soviet political Soviet society Soviet system Soviet Union Stalinist Statistika strategic stress structure succession terror Third World tion top leadership Ukraine University Press USSR Western York Zbigniew Brzezinski