Soviet Foreign Policy in Transition

by Edited by Roger E. Kanet , Deborah N. Miner , Tamara J. Resler

• ISBN13: 9780521413657
• ISBN10: 0521413656
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-04-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The world has recently witnessed remarkable changes in Soviet domestic and foreign policy. Eastern Europe has sprung free of the country that held it in its grip for over forty years. The Soviet leadership has accepted the reunification of Germany and supported the US-sponsored resolution in the UN permitting the use of force in the Gulf against one of its former allies. Moreover, the leadership's quest for stability during a time of rapid technological, economic and political change has seriously weakened the position of the Soviet Union on the international scene. This timely volume assesses these dramatic changes. It chronicles the debate within the Soviet Union over the success and validity of perestroika and the 'new thinking' on foreign affairs, the policy alternatives supported by various groups within the elite and their likely impact on future policies. The authors, who comprise a broad range of leading analysts from Europe, North America, Africa and Asia also provide specific regional and country case studies. They examine changes in the Soviet-East European relationship, Soviet policy toward Northern Europe and the impact that shifts in Soviet policy are likely to have on a variety of developing countries.

Table of Contents

List of tables

Preface

Introduction

Part I. The Soviet Union and the International Political System: 1. Soviet reform in international perspective

Part II. The Soviet Union And Europe: 2. The changing Soviet-East European relationship

3. Soviet-Nordic relations in the era of perestroika and new thinking

4. Soviet signals to the mordic countries during the Lithuanian crisis of 1990

5. Neutrality and new thinking

Part III. The Soviet Union and the Developing World: Global Trends: 6. From new thinking to the fragmentation of consensus in Soviet foreign policy: the USSR and the developing world

7. Soviet new thinking on national liberation movements: continuity and change

Part IV. The Soviet Union and the Developing World: Regional and Country Case Studies: 8. Soviet policy in Central America during the Gorbachev period

9. The Soviet reassessment of socialist orientation and the African response

10. Soviet policy in the Middle East: Gorbachev's imprint

11. The implications of perestroika for the Third World, particularly Asia

12. The Soviet Union and Indochina

13. Gorbachev's Southeast Asia policy: new thinking for a new era?

14. The impact of Gorbachev's new thinking on Soviet policy toward South Korea

Part V. Conclusion: 15. The paradox in new political thinking in Soviet foreign policy

Index.