Vulnerabilities of Social Structures - The Black Vault

11. The Comparative Study of the United States and theSoviet Union: Methodological Issues in AssessingVulnerability to Attack ..................................... 463III.PageThe Use of Comparative Analysis ....................... 463Local Government and Political Behavior ................ 464Assumptions about Attack Impact: TheGeneralized Case ..................................... 466Criteria of Vulnerability of Political Institutions .......... 469The Problem of Defining "Political Recovery" .............. 471Problems in Applying the Comparative Methodto the American and Soviet Cases ....................... 474The United States ................................. 474The Soviet Union ................................. 475A Comparative Overview of the American and SovietPolitical System s .......................................... 482Values and the Political System ......................... 484The Soviet Case ................................... 484The American Case ............................... 486Soviet Vulnerabilities and AmericanVulnerabilities .................................... 488Governmental Institutions and Personnel ................. 491The Soviet Case ................................... 491The American Case ............................... 499Possible Soviet and American Responses toThermonuclear Disaster ........................... 502Civil Defense and Vulnerability Reduction ................ 503The Soviet and American Cases ..................... 503IV. Survival and Recovery of Political Institutions ................ 512Degree of Modernization as Related to Recovery:The Soviet and American Cases Compared ............... 513Long-Term Political Recovery ......................... 520The American Case ............................... 520The Soviet Case ................................... 526The Need for Institutional Responses to Stress ....... 531xxxvi