Khrushchev and Brezhnev as Leaders: Building Authority in Soviet Politics

The key word in George Breslauer's approach to the problems of leadership in the U.S.S.R. is "authority," which includes elements of power and patronage, but also those of policy preference and the building of consensus in the political elite. His main method is analysis of the public statements of the two leaders, concentrating on the critical domestic issues (no attention is given to foreign policy). This is careful and intelligent Kremlinology, leading to conclusions different from many held by other scholars and Kremlin watchers.