Introduction

Yuri Andropov's and Konstantin Chernenko's years in office that fall within the period covered here can be characterized as a phase of transition—a transition from the immobilism of the late Brezhnev era to a new energetic attempt at a modernization of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev. The period of Moscow's interregnum with its inevitable diffusion of power afforded an exceptionally good glimpse of the discussions among the Soviet leadership and the manifoldness of the resultant conflicts. The election of the "Andropovist" Gorbachev points in the same direction: toward a certain consensus among large parts of the leadership and populace regarding the necessity of relaxing the administrative-bureaucratic fetters of a centralized command structure in specific areas. The Gorbachev-concept rather aims at modernization without thoroughgoing reforms in the Western sense. From the approach Gorbachev developed a concept of "perfecting" socialist democracy along Andropov's line.