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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 May 2020
For the spring semester of 1986 I designed a seminar on the problems of contemporary Soviet society that would give students a different perspective on the dynamics of decision- making in the USSR. The class, which met once a week for fifteen weeks, culminated in a series of Politburo meetings during which students acted as key Politburo members and considered proposals for reform submitted to them by specialists from various branches of the soviet government.
The idea for such an exercise came to me after reading Douglas W. Simon's recent article in News for Teachers of Political Science about a National Security Council simulation he conducted at Drew University. I felt the most crucial difficulty with a Politburo simulation as opposed to the NSC simulation would be the paucity of reliable and detailed information on sessions of the Politburo.
1 This distinction is made by Rudolf Tokes and discussed in his essay “Varieties of Soviet Dissent” in Dissent in the USSR, Tokes, Rudolf L. ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1975)Google Scholar.
2 For insight into the Soviet bureaucracy I found Voslensky's, Michael, Nomenklatura (New York: Doubleday, 1984Google Scholar indispensable. Students might also want to read relevant portions of Shevchenko's, Arkady recent best seller Breaking with Moscow (New York: Knopf, 1985Google Scholar, as well as a new book by former Soviet reporters Solovyov, Vladimir and Klepikova, ElenaBehind the High Kremlin Walls (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1986Google Scholar. There are also several biographical resources available on Soviet leaders from the research staff at Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, such as the Biographical Directory of 100 Leading Soviet Officials (New York: RFE/RL, Inc., 1986 edited by Rahr, AlexanderGoogle Scholar.