Helmut Sonnenfeldt - Soviet Politics In The 1980s

Soviet Politics in the 1980s

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The Soviet Union, in the aftermath of the Brezhnev era, may well stand at a crossroads in its history. According to the authors of this volume, the Chernenko administration and the new generation of political leaders now on the threshold of power must steer through a difficult period in the USSR's international relations, especially where the U.S. is concerned, continuing to assert what they regard as the legitimate Soviet role as a world superpower while coping with an inflexible and aging political system, a stagnant economy, and growing social problems. The contributors provide a careful consideration of the choices confronting the USSR as this new era begins and analyze the paths its leaders may take as they grapple with the challenges of the 1980s.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt, formerly the counselor to then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, is currently a guest scholar in international affairs at the Brookings institution.

edited by
Helmut Sonnenfeldt

First published 1985 by Westview Press

Published 2019 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Soviet Politics in the 1980s.
(A Westview replica edition)
1. Soviet Union--Politics and government--1953- --Addresses, essays,
lectures. 2. Soviet Union--Economic conditions--1976- --Addresses,
essays, lectures. 3. Soviet Union--Social conditions--1970- --Addresses,
essays, lectures. I. Sonnenfeldt, Helmut, 1926-
DK286.5.S68 1985 947.085'4 84-7486

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-28835-8(hbk)

Helmut Sonnenfeldt

The papers assembled in this volume were originally commissioned in late 1982, in what turned out to be the final weeks of the Brezhnev era. First drafts were then discussed intensively in a series of four one-day conferences in the first half of 1983 in what appeared at the time to be the early stage of an Andropov-led activation of an increasingly stagnant political leadership. The drafts were revised by the authors in the light of specifically prepared comments and of issues raised in give-And-take discussions by other participants in the 1983 conference series. This process of revision and updating occurred during the progressive incapacitation of Andropov but prior to his death and the advent of Konstantin Chernenko as CPSU general secretary in February 1984.

The purpose of the papers, and of the conferences built around them under the sponsorship of the United States Information Agency and the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, DC, was to illuminate selected aspects of the evolution of Soviet politics and society and some areas of interaction between the Soviet Union and the West, particularly the United States.

While papers written and discussions conducted in 1982-83, could clearly not avoid a good deal of attention to the leadership succession then under way, the hope was to treat the issues in a broader perspective and longer time frame. This, I believe, was substantially accomplished by the authors, so that the contents of this volume can be said to transcend the personnel changes of the moment. Indeed, an important impression to be derived from these materials is that the underlying issues of Soviet politics in their multifaceted ramifications and the problems faced by the rest of the world in conducting relations with and policies toward the Soviet Union are almost certainly less affected by the particular individuals currently in power in Moscow than is often thought.

Thus, in a sense, these papers constitute an agenda for the Soviet political system, whatever the precise composition of the leadership groups at various levels of the party and state in the 1980s. Undoubtedly, frequent turnover at the top and resulting personnel turbulence in the lower reaches have their impact. Because of the rigid seniority system that prevails in the Soviet Union and the relative stability in leadership politics that came to be a hallmark of the Brezhnev era, deaths and incapacitation have taken a heavy toll in recent years as the average age of the leaders moved ever upward. This phenomenon of personnel turnover can be expected to continue for some time. Indeed, because there has been something of a "long generation" in office, those who move up may have a relatively brief tenure, at least in the highest positions; a more or less stable leadership may thus still take some time to form. How the system can and will grapple with the accumulated problems that face it is in any event among the key questions of the day. But it is compounded by the uncertainties inherent in leadership flux and maneuvering. Dramatic change seems unlikely in these circumstances.