This yearbook marks the fourteenth year of the Comparative Survey of Freedom and is the ninth edition in the Freedom House series of annual publications. In addition to the ratings and tables produced by the Survey, the discussion of criteria and definitions at the beginning of the 1986-87 yearbook again includes the checklist of political rights and civil liberties. Discussion of communication policies of the United States and the Soviet Union forms a special theme in this year's summary of the international struggle for free and informative news media.