Soviet Military Politics Dale R. Herspring YOSEF AVIDAR. The Party and Allen & Unwin, 1984. party's primary concern is to control the Army in the Soviet Union. the military, with the result that there DAVID HOLLOWAY. The Soviet Jerusalem, Magnes, 1983. is constant tension between the two Union and the Arms Race. 2nd ed. institutions. A unitary approach, ad- PAULJ. MURPHY, Ed. New Haven, Yale University 2 vocated by William Odom, sees The Soviet Air Forces. Press, 1984. Soviet military officers, just like party Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1984. JONATHAN ADELMAN. cadres, as executants of party poli- ELLEN JONES. Red Army and The Revolutionary Armies. cy, and maintains that the former Society. London and Boston, Allen Westport, CT, Greenwood share a common orientation with the & Unwin, 1985. Press, 1980. latter. Conflict, to the degree it oc- curs, is largely intra-institutional, JIRI VALENTA and WILLIAM JONATHAN ALFORD, Ed that is, it pits lower levels of the bu- POTTER, Eds. Soviet The Soviet Union: Security reaucracy against higher ones. Fi- Decisionmaking for National Policies and Constraints. nally, Timothy Colton has advocat- Security. London and Boston, New York, St. Martin's, 1985. ed a "participatory" model which, while it sees the military as an institu- tion having its own interests, argues RECENT events such as the Rea- funds away from the military? Fur- that so far the party has satisfied the 3 gan-Gorbachev summit, the subse- ther, to what degree is the military, military's core interests. Conse- quent limited warming in US-Soviet as a distinct institution, likely to op- quently, conflict has been minimal. relations, as well as the 27th CPSU pose Moscow's new leader on such The most profitable way to look at Congress all serve to focus attention issues?Finally, whatwillbethe long- civil-military relations, Colton ar- anew on the Soviet military and its term impact on military politics in the gues, is to focus on the degree of role in the politics of the USSR. With USSR of the ouster of a dynamic pro- military participation in national se- regard to foreign policy, what is like- fessional soldier of the stature of curity decisionmaking. All of the au- ly to be the Soviet military's re- Marshal Nikolay Ogarkov from his thors reviewed here rely to varying sponse to improved US-Soviet rela- posts as chief of the general staff degrees on one or another of these tions? On the home front, how will and first deputy minister of defense? three models. the marshals and admirals respond The answers to these questions will to Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to have important implications for the YOSEF AVIDAR in his study of Sovi- modernize the economy if it should course of Soviet domestic politics as et civil-military relations focuses on turn out to involve reallocating well as US-Soviet relations. the decade from the death of Stalin Three general conceptual ap- proaches have been suggested for 'Roman Kolkowicz, "Interest Groups in Dale R. Herspring, a Foreign Service Officer analyzing civil-military relations in Soviet Politics: The Case of the Military," in with the US Department of State, is the author the USSR. Roman Kolkowicz has Dale R. Herspring and Ivan Volgyes, Eds., of numerous works on communist militaries, advocated an interest-group mod- Civil-Military Relations in Communist Systems, including The Soviet Union and Strategic Boulder, CO, Westview, 1978, pp. 9-25. el, in which Soviet military politics 2William E. Odom, "The Party-Military Arms, (1984, co-authored with Robbin Laird). are characterized by constant con- Connection: A Critique," in ibid., pp. 27-52. The views expressed are those of the author 3Timothy J. Colton, "The Party-Military and do not necessarily represent the official flict between two definable dichoto- 1 Connection: A Participatory Model," in ibid., position of the US Government. mous institutions. In this view, the pp. 53-75. 93 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Book Reviews (1953) to the ouster of Nikita Khru- cause the educational level of all So- nally, the party has provided capa- shchev (1964). Avidar devotes par- viet youth, including those from mi- ble and cautious leadership (with ticular attention to the Zhukov affair nority nationalities, is rising), of the some glaring exceptions) in foreign and to the impact on party-military demographic problems represent- policy, avoiding risky adventures relations of KhrCtshchev's efforts to ed bytheshrinkingnumberof young that might provoke war. (p. 158) cut back on the Soviet armed forces people (for which she suggests a in the early 1960's. Conceptually, number of viable solutions), and of The result, according to Holloway, Avidar relies on the interest-group the importance of the armed forces has been a smoother relationship model. The key to Soviet military for political socialization, she ar- than either Avidar or Cohen recog- politics during this period, in his gues that rather than being antago- nizes, but one that carries the poten- opinion, isthe degree to which Khru- nistic, the relationship between the tial for more conflict than Jones shchev satisfied the military's inter- party and the military is symbiotic. seems to foresee. ests. Thus, when party and military And, she adds, interdependence Those who accept the Golton ap- interests coincided, as during the between civilian and military offi- proach (implicitly or explicitly) rec- period from 1953 to 1957, relations cials is likely to grow in coming years ognize thatthe relationship between were tranquil. However, with the as the military's social role in- the two institutions has not always ouster of Marshal Georgiy Zhukov creases. She concludes that "the in- been conflict-free. Jonathan Adel- and the reassert'ion of party control terdependence of military and civil- man.forexample, in his outstanding through the Central Committee res- ian institutions is based on much comparative study of the impact of olution of October 1957, relations more than shared values" (p. 220). the early developmental period on worsened. A further deterioration Jones adopts a similar approach Chinese and Soviet civil-military re- occurred in subsequent years as a in her article on military research lations, notes that the Red Army dif- result of the U-2 affair of May 1960, and development in the book edited fered radically from the People's the forced withdrawal of Soviet mis- by Jiri Valenta and William Potter. In Liberation Army (PLA) because the siles from Cuba in 1962, and contrast to those who maintain that former was initially viewed by party Khrushchev's efforts to cut the mili- institutional (that is, bureaucratic) leaders as a hostile organiza- tary both in size and budget. The re- factors contribute significantly to re- tion—to be subverted and then con- sult was increasing alienation of the search and development, Jones ar- trolled—whereas in China, the party military, which, Avidar maintains, gues that the process is primarily and army were one. contributed significantly to Khru- driven by the party's military policy Analysts in the third group focus shchev's ouster in 1964. and the country's military doctrine. on determining the area and extent The book edited by Paul Murphy Her views closely resemble those of of military influence (or "participa- contains a number of worthwhile ar- William Odom. tion," to use Colton's term) in deci- ticles tracing the development of the The third group of authors re- sionmaking. They agree on a num- Soviet Air Forces since the 1917 rev- viewed here utilize a framework ber of things. First, the Politburo is olution.4 For example, the first arti- closer to Colton's. David Holloway, the key decisionmaking body; the cle, by Stuart Cohen, addresses the for example, in his updated study of military as an institution is clearly overall question of civil-military rela- the role of military power in the Sovi- subordinate to it. For example, Da- tions and employs a conceptual et Union from 1917 to the present, vid Fewtrell, in an article in the col- framework similar to that utilized by most clearly articulates the Colton lection of essays edited by Jonathan Avidar. Party-military relations (or in position when he states: Alford, notes that although the De- this case party-air force relations) fense Council certainly plays a role are seen as antagonistic. Thus the ... the party, by stressing the impor- in matters affecting the allocation of primary task of the party-political tance of conflict between states and apparatus is to control the military. the need for cohesion and solidarity "Of particular interest is the article by Philip Ellen Jones, in her excellent study at home, has provided an ideology Peterson in the Murphy book, entitled of Soviet manpower issues, adopts that gives clear purpose to the "Reorganization Trends," which discusses a different conceptual approach. Armed Forces' existence. Party poli- developments not only in the Air Forces, but in the Soviet military in general. Peterson's assertion After a lengthy discussion of prob- cy has given the officer corps a that "the Soviets are reorganizing their services to lems presented by the increasing good standard of living and high more effectively insure the capacity to conduct number of minority recruits in the So- status, and has furthered their pro- combined-arms actions at each echelon of strategic and operational leadership" (p. 277) viet military (the impact of which she fessional interests by allocating has serious implications for Western planners and sees as meliorated somewhat be- generous resources to defense. Fi- strategists. 94 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Problems of Communism March-April 1986 A second area of general agree- making leading to the 1968 invasion particular.