Название: Inside the Apparat: Perspectives on the Soviet System from Former FunctionariesАвтор: Uri Ra'Anan
Издательство: Lexington Books
Год: 1990
ISBN: 0669242268
Формат:
Страниц: 320
Размер: 52,5 mb
Язык: English
Relying on the insight and testimony of defectors and emigres obtained through in-depth oral-history interviews, Inside the Apparat challenges the generally accepted notions on the manner in which the Soviet system functions. Former high-ranking party, government, military, and security officials from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan shed light on the various factions of the apparat in which they served. Together they provide a multidimensional picture of the decision-making process in the USSR, with particular emphasis on defense and foreign affairs.
The authors mine previously undisclosed information about the making and unmaking of careers, as well as the processes by which the Soviet decision-making apparatus plans and determines policy, integrates East European and other client capabilities, and implements decisions.
In their interviews, Ra'anan and Lukes pose questions that have been overlooked by many in the international-relations and defense communities, such as:
• What is the real focus of power in the Soviet Union?
• Just how do the Politburo, the Central Committee Secretariat, the Council of Ministers, and the State Defense Council interact—and who determines their agendas?
• How does the Soviet influence reach the capitals of Eastern Europe and Soviet third-world clients?
Although few studies have successfully penetrated the facade of the Soviet state to reveal the true nature of its power structure, this timely volume exposes the modus operandi of an apparat that continues to be marked by inertia. It will provide specialists as well as lay readers with a solid background for assessing events as they continue to unfold in the Gorbachev era.