Word: brezhnevs
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...Brezhnev leadership has, for a while at least, brought some order to the turmoil of Soviet history. For that it almost certainly gets credit with much of the populace...
...hallmark of the Brezhnev leadership has been to combine an expansive foreign policy, a formidable military buildup and a period of sustained domestic political stability. Says Columbia's Bialer: "I see the 1960s and '70s as a very benign period in Soviet history. It is quite possible that future historians will say this was the greatest, the best period in their history. It was a society that for the first time was able to provide both guns and butter, to raise the standard of living a bit, and to reach military equality with the West. They had many problems...
Nonetheless, the Brezhnev leadership has not prepared well either for a transfer of power at the top or for the future of the society as a whole. Sensing that failing, many Soviets are fearful that there may be harder days ahead. Reports TIME Correspondent Nelan: "Government officials admit privately that the economy is a mess, that things are unquestionably going to get worse. There is an atmosphere of apprehension. Everyone is waiting to see what will come after the present aging, ill and inflexible oligarchy passes from the scene. The hope is for more dynamism?if not after Brezhnev himself...
...hopes being realized. One reason is that the present leadership and the leadership system as a whole work against dynamism. A management team that cannot, or will not, transfer power to a younger generation of executives except by the attrition of mortality is by definition guilty of mismanagement. The Brezhnev Politburo is like an aging board of directors that has no compulsory retirement policy, no adequate pension plan and no tradition of honoring emeritus directors. So each board member hangs on and on, becoming increasingly shortsighted as he becomes increasingly sclerotic. Such a corporation, no matter how large and powerful...
...long-term investment. There is no reason to expect that the members of the post-Brezhnev leadership, or the one after that, will reform the gerontocracy once they have risen...