versely, the role of planning agencies, certainly 

 Gosplan and probably to some extent the GKNT, is lim- 

 ited. While their formal powers are well-defined, 

 they normally function in the more deterministic 

 world of production and innovation. The relative au- 

 tonomy enjoyed by the Academy system clearly is at- 

 tributable more to the nature of fundamental research 

 than to any conscious decision on the part of the re- 

 gime. Indeed, any degree of autonomy is likely to be 

 granted grudgingly. 



This leaves open the question of how the leader- 

 ship influences the course of Academy and university 

 fundamental research. While certainly not well de- 

 fined, the process of issuing "basic directions" for 

 science and technology appears to be significant. Un- 

 like plan targets, basic directions do not have the 

 force of law. In an important way, however, they 

 partly substitute for plan targets in areas where 

 (1) superior agencies are not qualified to fix de- 

 tailed plan assignments, or (2) superior agencies are 

 not administratively capable of determining appropri- 

 ate targets. The former concerns situations where 

 the performers themselves are uniquely capable of de- 

 termining the specific course of their work (e.g., 

 Academy departments). Political authorities, for ex- 

 ample, would not regularly presume to judge the mer- 

 its of this or that research project in theoretical 

 physics, but, by specifying the broad objectives to 

 which a department's research program should contrib- 

 ute, the leadership guides the selection of assign- 

 ments. 



The second condition is more interesting because 

 it is pervasive in science and the economy. Optimal- 

 ly, decision making at all levels should be channeled 

 by a combination of specific orders, incentives, and 

 penalties to assure that all activities contribute to 

 the accomplishment of goals set by the central lead- 

 ers. In fact, decision makers frequently have sub- 

 stantial autonomy, either because activities under 

 their jurisdiction have not been adequately encom- 

 passed by the instructions of superiors or because 

 elements of these instructions may conflict. In such 



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