The recent conservative trend in educational policy is addressed in this paper which begins with a description of 10 specific types of threats to the instructional development movement that can evolve from an excessively conservative environment. These threats are named as follows: (1) scapegoat; (2) baby-with-the-bathwater; (3) chronological roll-back; (4) coasting uphill; (5) "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"; (6) punish-the-learner; (7) expensive company; (8) least-cherished program; (9) smokescreen; and (10) empty barrel. Nostalgia and the back-to-basics movements are put into perspective. Suggestions are offered for ways to help instructional development survive in a reactionary environment and the psychology and politics of survival are discussed. An annotated list presents 25 survival rules which are broadly applicable to instructional development, but which are particularly appropriate during times of financially-imposed external pressures. Twenty-eight references are listed. (LMM)