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cal interests increase the complexity of ocean management. In the 
United States, for example, marine activities did not take place in 
isolation, but were intertwined with dozens of other nonmarine issues 
and shared the same stage.® 
The international political environment is also a consideration in 
Soviet ocean policy formulation. Soviet ocean objectives for fisheries, 
shipping, or deepsea mining, are just a few of the items that conflict 
with other Soviet foreign policy preferences in relations with less 
developed countries. The larger foreign policy preferences are a part 
of the ocean policymaking process. The growth of Soviet ocean uses 
has taken place as worldwide ocean uses have intensified and ex- 
panded. Few areas of Soviet activity have such explicit linkages 
between domestic programs and international issues. Ocean uses, by 
nature, interact with the outside world; and the need to participate 
in international forums and choose appropriate domestic objectives 
and foreign policy responses have been an integral component in 
Soviet ocean development. 
Our knowledge of the Soviet ocean policymaking process is both 
superficial and incomplete. The unified policymaking image the Soviets 
like to promote is readily accepted in the West. With rare exceptions, 
the Soviets do not admit to diversity of national interest. The lack 
of a coherent Soviet discussion of the ocean policymaking structure 
and processes, the difficulty in dealing with Soviet publications, and 
the popular preconceptions one has in approaching a communist 
system reinforce the image of a unified ocean policymaking structure 
in the Soviet Union under the leadership of the Communist Party. 
Detailed examination of Soviet professional periodicals and publica- 
tions in the ocean field, however, reveals a large number of institutions 
with entrenched and conflicting interests and overlapping jurisdiction.* 
Exclusive central control over a broad range of management and 
policy issues does not exist. Decisionmaking authority has been 
dispersed to expert and local groups, and policy fragmentation has 
resulted. The numerous Soviet press articles and publications reflect 
this in the extensive public discussions and advocacy of divergent 
policy preferences and proposals. 
This article will present an outline of the variety and structure 
of Soviet ocean institutions and indicate possible interaction of Soviet 
ocean interests. It will not analyze how decisions are made or provide 
a detailed description of institutional or personal policy preferences. 
The interplay of ocean politics will be analyzed in a subsequent study.® 
3 Edward Wenk, Jr., ““The Politics of the Ocean” (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972), 
p. 368. 
4The basic resources used for this study are the Soviet journals published under the auspices of the 
various ministries and agencies that can be classed as ocean users: Rybnoe Khoziaistvo (Ministry of 
Fisheries), Morskoi Flot (Ministry of Maritime Fleet), Morskoi Sbornik (Navy), Vodnyi Transport 
(Ministry of the Maritime Fleet, Ministry of the River Fleet RSFSR and the Central Committee of 
the Union of Maritime and River Fleet workers), Sudostroennie (Ministry of Shipbuilding), and Oke- 
anologiia (U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Oceanographic Commission). These journals were 
reviewed for approximately a 10-year period. A survey of more general Soviet publications was also 
made. These included S. Sh. A. (U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Institute for the Study of the 
U.S.A.), Mirovaia Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnoe Otnoshenie (U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, In- 
stitute for the Study of the World Economy and International Relations), Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta 
(CPSU Central Committee), Planovoe Khoziaistvo (Gosplan), Pravda (CPSU Central Committee), 
and Izvestiia (U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers). In addition, some of the major texts on ocean policy 
and management were analyzed. 
Author’s note: Inconsistencies in the transliteration of Russian words throughout the text are due 
to the author's use of the Library of Congress transliteration system, while other sources have used 
the U.S. Board of Geographic Names system or other methods. 
5 This article is part of a larger study “Ocean Politics in the Soviet Union” being done as a Ph.D 
dissertation for the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. 
