Stalin's Successors
Leadership, Stability and Change in the Soviet Union

Seweryn Bialer (Author)

9780521289061, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 April 1982

324 pages
22.9 x 15.4 x 2 cm, 0.527 kg

'It is salutary to have a work that asks us to set aside our penchant for facile or ideologically motivated assumptions, and to see the USSR in a dispassionate and icily objective manner.' Washington Post

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.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Stalinism and the Soviet Political System: 1. The mature Stalinist system
2. Stalin and the Soviet Political elite
3. Stalinism and the evolution of the Soviet polity
Part II. Succession and Turnover of Soviet Elites: 4. The approaching succession: the top leader
5. The approaching succession: leadership and elite turnover
6. The approaching succession: generational change
Part III. The Nature and Extent of Soviet Political Stability: 7. Stability: analytical considerations
8. Soviet stability and its sources
9. Soviet political stability and the question of legitimacy
10. Soviet stability and the national problem
Part IV. Soviet Perceptions of International Affairs and Trends in Soviet Foreign Policy: 11. The Centrality of US-Soviet relations
12. The arms race and the correlation of forces
13. The role of the military factor in international relations
14. The Third World and the translation of power into influence
Part V. Prospects for the 1980s: 15. The politics of stringency
Index.

Subject Areas: Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], European history [HBJD]