Institutional Structure and Soviet Defence Policy Change

This article sets out to establish the extent to which changes in the institutional structure of Soviet security and defence policy influenced Soviet military-strategic policy in the 1980s. Institutional structure is defined as the nature of civil-military relations, which is measured along two dimensions: the degree of leadership control over the military, and the interrelationship between civilian and military participation in security and defence policy. Hypotheses are formulated which connect the nature of civil-military relations to military-strategic decisions as well as to their conversion into concrete measures. The empirical analysis of three decisions shows that the Soviet leaders sought to create a more defensive strategy by increasing centralized control over agenda-setting, policy design and decision-making. It did so by expanding the community of experts in military-strategic policy and reducing military participation in foreign and, to a lesser extent, arms control policy. It failed to institutionalize civilian participation and monitoring of the implementation of military-strategic decisions, apparently because it had a top-down perspective on the policy process. The general conclusion is that institutional change at the input side of the policy process is easier to establish than at the output side

Arms control · Business · Computer security · Control (management · Economics · Foreign policy · Management · Military policy · Military science · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Security policy · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Political Conflict and Governance · Public Administration

• The Early Post-Stalin Succession Struggle and Upheavals in East-Central Europe

  Mark Kramer•Journal of Cold War Studies•1999

  Incluir item

• Domestic–External Linkages and the Cold War in 1953 and 1989

  Open Access•Mark Kramer, Mark S Kramer•The British Journal of Politics…•2009

  Incluir item

• A (more) defensive strategy’

  Gerard Snel•Europe Asia Studies•1998

  Incluir item

• The policy process in the modern capitalist state

  Christopher Ham•The policy process in the modern…•1984

  Incluir item

• The sources of military doctrine

  Barry Posen•The sources of military doctrine•1984

  Incluir item

• The Soldier and the State

  Samuel P Huntington•Soldier and the State•1981

  Incluir item

• Agendas, alternatives, and public policies

  John W Kingdon•Agendas, alternatives, and public…•1995

  Incluir item

• The Soviet Military and the Communist Party

  Harry L Coles, Roman Kolkowicz•The American Historical Review•1968

  Incluir item

• Learning in U.S. and Soviet Foreign Policy

  George Breslauer, George W Breslauer et al.•Learning in U. S. and Soviet…•2019

  Incluir item

• Historical institutionalism in comparative politics

  Open Access•Kathleen Thelen, Sven Steinmo•Structuring Politics•1992

  Incluir item

• The Soviet Military and the Communist Party

  Roman Kolkowicz•Soviet Military and the Communist…•2019

  Incluir item

• The role of the CPSU international department in soviet foreign relations and national security policy

  Mark Kramer•Soviet Studies•1990

  Incluir item

• Soviet reform and the end of the Cold War

  Open Access•Daniel Deudney, G John Ikenberry•Review of International Studies•1991

  Incluir item

• Knowledge, Policy-Oriented Learning, and Policy Change

  Open Access•Paul A Sabatier, Paul Sabatier•Knowledge•1987

  Incluir item

• Mezhdunarodniki

  Alexander Dallin, Oded Eran•The Russian Review•1981

  Incluir item

• Executive Power and Soviet Politics

  Norma C Noonan, Eugene Huskey•The Russian Review•1994

  Incluir item

• Soldiers and the Soviet State

  Dale R Herspring, Timothy J Colton et al.•The Russian Review•1992

  Incluir item

• The Big Five

  Robert Arnett, Aleksandr G Savelyev et al.•The Russian Review•1996

  Incluir item

• The Soviet Communist Party

  Robert J Osborn, Ronald J Hill et al.•The Russian Review•1982

  Incluir item

• The system

  Open Access•Vladimir Tismaneanu•Orbis•1993

  Incluir item

• Reorganizing America's defense

  Peter Nailor•International Affairs•1986

  Incluir item

• The Mezhdunarodniki

  John Bradley, J F N Bradley•International Affairs•1981

  Incluir item

• At the highest levels

  David Wedgwood Benn•International Affairs•1993

  Incluir item

• Sipri yearbook 1991

  Susan Boyde•International Affairs•1992

  Incluir item

• Engaging the enemy

  Christoph Bluth•International Affairs•1994

  Incluir item

• The end of the Cold War

  Yale H Ferguson•International Affairs•1993

  Incluir item

• The Soviet Communist Party

  Michael Waller•International Affairs•1982

  Incluir item

• The System

  Robert Legvold, Georgi Arbatov•Foreign Affairs•1992

  Incluir item

• At the Highest Levels

  Stephen E Ambrose, Michael R Beschloss et al.•Foreign Affairs•1993

  Incluir item

• Disarmament and Security

  Open Access•Alexander Cadogan•The Annals of the American…•1947

  Incluir item

• Gorbachev, German Unification and the Collapse of Empire

  Hannes Adomeit•Post-Soviet Affairs•1994

  Incluir item

• Internal Battles and External Wars

  Open Access•Sarah E Mendelson•World Politics•1993

  Incluir item

• Ideas, Institutions, and the Gorbachev Foreign Policy Revolution

  Open Access•Jeffrey T Checkel, Jeff Checkel•World Politics•1993

  Incluir item

• The Party, the Military, and Decision Authority in the Soviet Union

  Open Access•Condoleezza Rice•World Politics•1987

  Incluir item

• Soviet Civil-Military Relations and the August Coup

  Open Access•John W R Lepingwell•World Politics•1992

  Incluir item

• Organizational Politics and Change in Soviet Military Policy

  Open Access•Stuart J Kaufman•World Politics•1994

  Incluir item

• The End of the Cold War

  Open Access•Bruce Bueno De Mesquita•Journal of Conflict Resolution•1998

  Incluir item

• The Soviet Foreign Policy Belief System

  Douglas W Blum•International Studies Quarterly•1993

  Incluir item

• The paradox of state strength

  Open Access•Matthew Evangelista•International Organization•1995

  Incluir item