Hitherto most western scholars have posited a basic dichotomy of interests between the Soviet army and the Communist party. They view the two institutions as conflictprone, with civilian supremacy depending primarily upon the party's control of officers through its organs within the military establishment. Colton challenges this thesis and argues that the military party organs have come to possess few of the attributes of an effective controlling device, and that the commissars and their heirs have operated as allies rather than adversaries of the military commanders. In explaining the extraordinary stability in army-party relations in terms of overlapping interests rather than controlling mechanisms, Colton offers a major case study and a new model to students of comparative military politics.
Hitherto most western scholars have posited a basic dichotomy of interests between the Soviet army and the Communist party. They view the two institutions as conflictprone, with civilian supremacy depending primarily upon the party's control of officers through its organs within the military establishment. Colton challenges this thesis and argues that the military party organs have come to possess few of the attributes of an effective controlling device, and that the commissars and their heirs have operated as allies rather than adversaries of the military commanders. In explaining the extraordinary stability in army-party relations in terms of overlapping interests rather than controlling mechanisms, Colton offers a major case study and a new model to students of comparative military politics.
Commissars, Commanders, and Civilian Authority: The Structure of Soviet Military Politics
373Commissars, Commanders, and Civilian Authority: The Structure of Soviet Military Politics
373Hardcover(Reprint 2014)
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780674497429 |
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Publisher: | Harvard University Press |
Publication date: | 02/05/1979 |
Series: | Russian Research Center Studies , #79 |
Edition description: | Reprint 2014 |
Pages: | 373 |
Product dimensions: | 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.88(d) |