ABSTRACT
The 27th Party Congress saw the completion of a total change in the composition of the top foreign policymakers in the Soviet Union. One of the most important and frequently asked questions is whether there will occur in the Soviet Union an economic reform that goes significantly beyond the tinkering with the economic mechanism characteristic of the Brezhnev years. Gorbachev has made clear that there is both covert and overt opposition to economic reform. In its covert manifestation it takes the form of ministerial encroachment upon the independence even of those industrial enterprises that are part of an economic experiment specifically concerned with enhancing that independence. In agriculture, of course, such quantitative improvement would be particularly beneficial to the Soviet economy. Gorbachev's general secretaryship is already yielding evidence of more serious Soviet efforts to improve or consolidate relations with a wide range of countries, including informal contacts even with Israel.
