American Soy in the USSR

This article, based on previously unpublished documents from the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI), examines the transfer of American ideas and practices to the USSR. The case study focuses on an expert memorandum submitted by the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1976, addressing issues related to the production and use of soybeans in the Soviet Union. The research follows a constructivist approach, highlighting how the image of the United States as a technological leader became more prominent during Soviet economic reforms, and how American modernization practices were seen as a model to follow. The use of anthropological methods provides a detailed look on how Soviet officials viewed and implemented American ideas within their own economic system. Using cultural transfer theory and tracking the “life” of the memorandum within soviet bureaucratic practices, the author explores why some expert recommendations were set aside, while others were adopted. The study concludes that the success of American ideas, such as the “soy project”, depended on the support of influential officials and the ability to adapt these ideas within smaller, manageable modernization efforts that didn't require major changes to the Soviet economic structure

Agriculture · Archaeology · Business · Economic history · Economics · Geography · International trade · Political science · Politics · Soviet union · Technology transfer · Law · Russia and Soviet political economy · Soviet and Russian History