The Organization of Soviet Foreign Policy Formulation

Abstract

<p>The subject of this thesis is the machinery through which Soviet foreign policies are processed, the men who staff positions in this machinery and the "interest groups” which affect the decision-makers. This analysis attempts to establish the division of powers and responsibilities that exist among the agencies which deal with foreign affairs and to establish through the analysis of social background and career pattern data conclusions about the type of men recruited into :foreign policy decision-making positions. It seeks further to analyze the interplay of competing foreign policy positions within the Soviet union. A convenient shorthand form of describing this thesis might be to call It an attempt at a decision-making analysis of Soviet foreign policy by means of elite and interest group analysis.</p>