SOVIET POLmCAL SCIENTISTS AND AMERICAN POLITICS

Transcription

1 SOVIET POLmCAL SCIENTISTS AND AMERICAN POLITICS

2 STUDIES IN SOVIET HISTORY AND SOCIETY General Editor: R. W. Davies The series consists of works by members or associates of the interdisciplinary Centre for Russian and East European Studies of the University of Birmingham, England. Special interests of the Centre include Soviet economic and social history, contemporary Soviet economics and planning, science and technology, sociology and education. Gregory D. Andrews HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE USSR John Barber SOVIET HISTORIANS IN CRISIS, Philip Hanson TRADE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SOVIET-WESTERN RELATIONS Jonathan Haslam SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY, THE SOVIET UNION AND THE STRUGGLE FOR COLLECTIVE SECURITY IN EUROPE, Peter Kneen SOVIET SCIENTISTS AND THE STATE Nicholas Lampert THE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENTSIA AND THE SOVIET STATE Robert Lewis SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIALISATION IN THE USSR Neil Malcolm SOVIET POLITICAL SCIENTISTS AND AMERICAN POLITICS David Mandel THE PETROGRAD WORKERS AND THE FALL OF THE OLD REGIME THE PETROGRAD WORKERS AND THE SOVIET SEIZURE OF POWER Roger Skurski SOVIET MARKETING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT J. N. Westwood SOVIET LOCOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY DURING INDUSTRIALISATION, Further titlej in preparation

3 SOVIET POLITICAL SCIENTISTS AND AMERICAN POLITICS Neil Malcolm M m association with the MACMILLAN PRESS Palgrave Macmillan WNOON

4 Neil Malcolm 1984 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission Fint published J 984 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS L TO London and Basingstolu Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI /

5 Contents Preface Acknowledgements vii lx 1 Ute Institutions Foreign Policy Research and Political Science Ute USA Institute 12 2 Ute Monopolies and the State State Monopoly Capitalism and Politics Washington and Wall Street 31 3 Political Conflict Conceptions of Political Conflict Politics as the Reflection of Economic Rivalry Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives Ute Masses in Politics Policy Issues 94 4 Congress, the President and the Executive Ute Imperialist Presidency Congress in the Political System Disillusion with Congress lhe President and the Executive Conclusion 150 Notes Bibliography Index v

6 Preface The last decade has seen a rapid expansion of American studies in the Soviet Union, and in particular a substantial amount of new writing on American politics. This has not gone unnoticed in the West. It has attracted the interest primarily of researchers into Soviet foreign policy making who believe that connections can usefully be drawn between changes in specialist perceptions and shifts in Soviet behaviour in international relations. Although the present work does serve to illuminate a relatively unexplored and arguably vital area of the policy process, this is not its main purpose. It sets out to investigate the development of American studies as one (rapidly growing) field of Soviet social science and to provide an interpretation of this development in which the demands of the policy makers are seen as only one among a number of formative influences. Particular attention is paid to the question of how Soviet scholars have coped with the task of assimilating concepts and interpretations occurring in the writings of American political scientists and journalists. The question is confronted of how far their work should be seen as fundamentally derivative from Western sources, and how far as creative develop ment of the historical materialist tradition, as a serious contribu tion to refining the Soviet image of 'State Monopoly Capitalism'. In Chapter 1 are described the setting in which Soviet researchers on Western politics have to operate, and the special pressures and constraints which are placed on them. Chapter 2 compares the 'official' theory of State Monopoly Capitalism with the more sophisticated versions available in the specialist press, and in a review of Soviet writing on the relationship between business and government in the United States it provides illustra tions of the latitude allowed to academic authors in this area. Chapter 3 is concerned with changing Soviet conceptions of politi. cal conflict in capitalist societies and in particular of the party system and the role of the masses in American politics. It contains Vll

7 viii Preface three case studies of Soviet analysis - of the debates over environ mental protection policy, energy policy and East-West relations. In Chapter 4 it is explained how the Americanists have come to revise initial assumptions of White House supremacy in Washing. ton, under the influence of Western writing on bureaucratic politics and in the light of the eventful history of President Congress relations in the 1970s. The final chapter argues that the prevalent 'de.stalinising' perspective on the development of Soviet writing about the West is now unduly restrictive. Not only does it tend to oversimplify the overall evolution of views, and in particu lar to obscure the influence exerted by pre Cold War habits of thought about capitalist politics. It also encourages exaggerated expectations of convergence between Soviet and 'bourgeois' approaches to politics. In the third place, it distracts attention from the important and multiplying differences which distinguish the work of individual authors. The book concludes with a discussion of the problem involved in assessing the impact on Soviet politics and foreign policy of the American studies boom. In view of the scale on which Soviet work on American politics is now being published, the survey which follows cannot pretend to be all inclusive. Certain areas have had to be partially or wholly excluded from consideration - writing on American relations with states other than the USSR, on American history and on certain more specialised topics such as the judiciary and local politics, as well as studies of American politics produced before the Second World War. And it is likely that there are also some unintentional omissions. Fortunately, however, a large proportion of the most substantial work is concentrated in the monograph literature, which although it has accumulated rapidly over the past half-decade is still of manageable proportions, and this has been the most important source. For evidence of Soviet expert reactions to current events in American politics I have relied principally on the journals published by the Moscow Institute for the Study of the USA and Canada and the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations. I was able to make a visit to Moscow in 1981 to the Soviet Academy of Sciences and to conduct interviews with members of the Institute for the Study of the USA and Canada, the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations and the Institute of State and Law. Although these inter views are not individually referred to in the notes, they have served to confirm or modify some of the factual material and many of the interpretations contained in the following pages.

8 Acknowledgements I must acknowledge the help and advice provided by a number of colleagues at various stages in the preparation of this work, especially Ron Amann and Bob Davies at Birmingham University Centre for Russian and East European Studies, but also Archie Brown,Julian Cooper, Steve Gill, Mike Haynes and Ron Hill.lhey are, of course, free of any responsibility for those defects which remain. lhanks are also due to those workers at USSR Academy of Sciences Institutes who were kind enough to assist me in my research, to the British Academy for arranging a study visit to Moscow in 1981, and to Wolverhampton Polytechnic for creating the conditions under which I could complete my work in a reason able time. Finally, I must acknowledge the invaluable contribution made by my wife, Ann, whose support and assistance have been unvarying and indispensable. N.M. IX