248 
The Academy works with other research organizations to lay down 
the basic development trends for research and the introduction of 
new equipment. In developing a single research and technical policy, 
this top layer of the scientific structure receives assistance from the 
relevant ministries and agencies planning economic development: The 
research trends are reflected in the long-term plan of scientific and 
technical progress that is endorsed by the U.S.S.R. Council of 
Ministers. !43 
The Academy’s extensive powers of central supervision and policy 
participation are limited, however,- by those subordinate institutions 
it would supervise. Research institutes both within the Academy and 
ministry system pursue independent policies and do not necessarily 
adhere to the priorities the Academy attempts to promote. The pursuit 
of self interest was observed earlier in the case of ministerial supervi- 
sion of research institutions. “‘It is clear from the complaints of those 
who are pressing for more control of Academy science that a con- 
siderable measure of freedom exists. . . . Laboratories of research 
institutes exist in ‘a state of feudalism’’’ working in isolated spheres.1!#4 
Change in the system of management and policymaking is not easily 
instituted. In 1963, for example, the Academy was given increased 
authority to direct university research. Bureaucratic routine and alloca- 
tion of power are not easily changed, and a conflict arose when 
the universities resisted. The policy change was ‘‘only partially success- 
ful 29145 
Nevertheless, the Academy of Sciences appears as a focal point, 
both in its work developing trends of scientific research and in its 
interaction with numerous ministries and agencies. The Oceanographic 
Commission and the Institute of Oceanology are the primary agencies 
in the Academy working in scientific research and ocean science 
policy. Aspects of oceanography are studied by the Academy’s In- 
stitutes of Marine Geophysics, Biology, Zoology, Earth Physics, and 
Acoustics. The Academy’s Institute of State and Law has a section 
on international law of the sea issues which studies ocean policy. 
The Oceanographic Commission of the Academy of Sciences began 
work in 1951 with broad responsibility in the coordination of all 
oceanographic research and providing oversight and approval of 
Academy research.'** In 1969 the Oceanographic Commission had 
54 members, including oceanographers and specialists in allied fields 
working in the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and the Ukraine, 
“3Sysoev, p. 111. Graham, ‘“‘The Development of Science Policy,”’ p. 38. See also U.S. Congress, 
Senate Committee on Government Operations, Organizing for National Security. Inquiry of the Sub- 
committee on National Policy Machinery, 86th Cong., 2d sess., 1960, p. 402 for a description of the 
interagency committees producing papers in the late 1950s on the Main Directions for Scientific 
Research. 
44 Weinert, p. 271. 
5 Graham, ‘“‘The Development of Science Policy,” p. 38. 
“6In a description of the Commission’s work in 1968, a Soviet scientist stated that the Oceano- 
graphic Commission coordinated research of inter Union plans. The Commission's Bureau discussed 
research expedition plans of the U.S.S.R. and the Ukraine Academy of Sciences, and approved them 
with important suggestions, particularly on strengthening the coordination of work. L. A. Zenkevich, 
“The Work of the Oceanographic Committee in 1968,” Oceanology, no. 3 (1969), pp. 446-9. 
