ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study—Soviet involvement in the frontline Arab states in the crucial period of 1966–1973—the examination of press pronouncements generally proved to be a useful analytic tool for the study of Soviet political interest groups and their role in the decision-making process. Its obvious limitations and reservations notwithstanding, the foregoing analysis allows several broad conclusions to be drawn. The chapter examines the political interest groups and, in particular, the emerging military-industrial complex do not attempt to challenge the Party’s ultimate authority. The actual policy decisions were more often an obvious compromise between divergent arguments than unilaterally imposed fiats. Political interest groups, affected directly or indirectly by the outcomes of foreign policy decisions, were seen to press their point of view upon the decision-makers in an apparent attempt to secure a policy line that would best serve their own interests and what they perceive to be the national interest of the USSR.
