Soviet Union. Upon his death, Brezhnev left behind a paralyzed and visibly declining country, characterized (to use the words of writer Alexander Zinovyev) by Homo Sovieticus: a passive individual, devoid of any initiative, who does what he’s told, avoiding risks, and completely incapable of independent critical thinking. The USSR left by Brezhnev possesses the most powerful army in the world. But the system has become a gerontocracy that is rotting from within. The average age of Politburo members is 70. Furthermore, military spending has, for decades, been prioritized over spending on consumer goods for the population, creating discontent and a clear gap with Western society.
