Military Intervention in the Soviet Union: Scenario for Post-Hegemonial Synthesis

This chapter focuses on the future systemic changes in the Soviet Union and their effects on the Communist party’s hegemonial authority and, more specifically, on the roles of military. Civil defense program embraces the whole Soviet population. It is directed by a senior general in Defense Ministry, and has been expanding in scope and intensity in the end of twentieth century. Through the civil defense programs, the military fosters and maintains a war-preparedness attitude, certain kinds of discipline, and para-military habits in the populace. The defense establishment has enjoyed a preferential position in the planning of economic and scientific goals and priorities in the Soviet Union. The Ministry of Defense enjoys a special position in the economic-technological sectors of the state. The party and the military in the Soviet Union have grown ever more interdependent over the years, with the party using the military and its style, and military taking advantage of the party’s growing reliance upon them.