ABSTRACT
The trade-off between general insight and narrow fact, between the forest and the trees, is a dilemma inherent in all science, particularly in social science. It is useful to recall several of the salient characteristics of the study of Soviet military affairs as it emerged between the mid-1950s and the mid-1960s. Various elements of the model can be traced in scholarly writing over an extended period, but it is helpful to focus on the work of Roman Kolkowicz, whose The Soviet Military and the Communist Party fused the elements into a coherent whole. The concept of participation predisposes to make more useful assumptions about military politics — and thus to ask more useful questions — than does the concept of civilian control. The scope of military participation in politics is narrowest when confined to internal military matters of intense concern only to military officers, matters usually capable of resolution within the boundaries of the military establishment.
