ABSTRACT
The Soviet elite may derive satisfaction from the unprecedented protection it enjoys under Brezhnev from both the caprices of the top leadership and the demands of the masses. The US-Soviet military balance has definitely changed in Moscow's favor, and US policymakers are inhibited in dealing with a crisis by an appreciation of improved Soviet capabilities. The extensive mode of Soviet development, based on an almost unlimited supply of cheap labor and easily accessible raw materials, as well as command-oriented central planning, that involves channeling manpower and resources according to the will of the states, is quickly coming to an end. The Soviet Union has to cope with a variety of pluralistic and contradictory forces such as Eastern European nations seeking greater independence, Eurocommunists simultaneously attached to and critical of the USSR, and ambitious, sensitive, and demanding developing countries. The Russian style of communism becomes a more popular meeting point for some circles of Soviet officialdom and the opposition.
