Political Leadership in the Soviet Union

The Soviet political system concentrates great power in the hands of a central leadership body in Moscow. In this study, the leadership is analyzed from various points of view by a group of Western researchers in Soviet politics. The text covers the entire Soviet period, from 1917 to the present day, but pays particular attention to the post-Stalin years and the new developments of the 1980s. A number of important themes are examined, including the changing structure of power, recruitment to the political executive, the significance of generational change, recent leadership succession and the impact of particular leadership institutions on Soviet foreign and domestic policy. Archie Brown is the author of "Soviet Politics and Political Science" and the editor of many books dealing specifically with the Soviet Union, including "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union", "Authority, Power and Policy in the USSR" and "Political Culture and Communist Studies".