Technology and Political Decision in Soviet Armaments Policy

This paper seeks to examine the processes of technological innovation in Soviet arms policy in the context of the current discussions about arms race dynamics: how are arms policies to be explained — in terms of interaction between nation-states or of an Eigendynamik? It is commonly asserted both in the Soviet Union and outside that technological change is subordinated in the Soviet Union to close political control. The paper examines this proposition by looking at the institutional framework of the armaments complex and at the processes of innovation themselves. It emerges that innovation in military technology has been relatively successful because of the high priority given to it by the political leadership in terms of organisational arrangements, resources and attention. In spite of recent efforts to create roles and institutions with an interest in innovation, this is still the case. In this sense innovation does depend upon political decision. The paper suggests, however, that this position is inadequate inasmuch as it ignores both the forces which guide the formation of political decision and the structural basis of the existing priorities.