The Political Leadership

Abstract

The Soviet political leadership — like the political process in which it operates — is now in the midst of profound change. Its composition has been radically altered in the past few years, with few high-level officials from the long-ruling Brezhnev regime maintaining power into the 1990s. Even a non-party member has been given an important portfolio in the USSR Council of Ministers, while increasing numbers of non-Communists fill influential positions in subnational governments. Meanwhile, elite norms of behaviour are being transformed, as politicians are encouraged to adopt more consensual, yet more outspoken leadership styles. The most basic system values, political structures, and policy priorities are now being reevaluated and, in many cases, transformed.