ABSTRACT
The scientific, technological, and economic revolution in the West in the postwar period has provided a significant stimulus to the modernization of the contemporary Soviet Union. Since the 1960s, Soviet leaders have come to recognize that science and technology are the engines of change and that they are lagging significantly behind the West in this respect. The postwar economic success of the West has underscored the need in Soviet eyes to create a more innovative economy. Especially in the Brezhnev period, the Soviets no longer perceived their economy to be the most innovative; rather, they regard those sectors in the US, West European, and Japanese economies capable of rapid technological innovation as the harbingers. According to analysts in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the changes associated with the technological revolution in the West have provided the "objective" basis for changes in relations among the advanced capitalist states.
