mental lines. To do so would require an accommoda- 

 tion with Gosplan, the Academy of Sciences, and the 

 whole machinery of government that could not easily 

 be achieved. Problems of interagency coordination 

 and cooperation therefore remain unsolved. The Krem- 

 lin continues to experience considerable difficulty 

 in building a uniform national S&T strategy, unity 

 of purpose, and commitment that transcend the paro- 

 chial preferences of each player. 



Generally speaking, both nations have been unable 

 to impose a long-term view on R&D planning and analy- 

 sis. In the United States the annual budget and a 

 four-year Presidential term make long-range projec- 

 tions in the public sector difficult. Lacking as- 

 sured R&D funding, individual agencies tend to re- 

 spond to short-term needs and pressures and to ne- 

 glect long-term programs. American industry, too, 

 operates on a short time horizon. Industrial manage- 

 ment is largely preoccupied with immediate markets 

 and short-term profits as distinct from longer range 

 payoffs from R&D with its attendant risks and uncer- 

 tainties. Long-range, dedicated innovation often oc- 

 curs by accident through the actions of deviants. 



Despite explicit emphasis on and formal procedure 

 for long-range planning and forecasting in the Soviet 

 Union, Kremlin authorities have also not been able to 

 develop a strategic approach to S&T policy. The plan- 

 ning of R&D has been oriented to building up S&T po- 

 tential; a focus on specific goals and end use has 

 been lacking. The planning of technological innova- 

 tion and utilization has been geared to solving cur- 

 rent production tasks. The two spheres of activity 

 generally are decoupled. The R&D plan has been es- 

 sentially an appendage of the general macroeconomic 

 plan, and insufficiently integrated with it. Though 

 we tend to associate Soviet economic decision making 

 with "five year plans," planning in the USSR really 

 proceeds in one year intervals. The Soviet budget is 

 also an annual budget. A tendency to plan from the 

 achieved level and a predominantly incremental style 

 of decision making hold sway throughout the system. 



315 



