ABSTRACT
This chapter describes briefly the chief functions of the apparatuses and institutions in the Soviet Union involved in the foreign policy and security policy decisionmaking process. It outlines the framework within which Gorbachev must work as the new, ambitious "manager" of Soviet world power. The Soviet Union's system of foreign and security policy decisionmaking is a component of an overall system based on single-party rule. In the political decisionmaking process of the Soviet system, phases of initiative, of planning, of preparation, of consultation, of decision, and of implementation of the decision and its control are discernible. The Defense Council plays a fairly mysterious part in the Soviet Union's foreign and security policy decision system, shrouded as it is in particularly strict secrecy. In foreign policy discussions Gromyko can rely mainly on candidate members of the Politburo who distinguish themselves by great expertise in foreign and security policy.
