Stepping Back from the Third World: Soviet Policy toward the United Arab Republic, 1965–1967

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Laron
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Third World ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
United Arab Republic ◽  
The Third ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Small Powers

This article shows that for two years prior to the June 1967 Six-Day Mideast War, Soviet-Egyptian relations had begun to fray because the Soviet Union wanted to loosen its ties with radical regimes in the Third World, including Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt. Soviet leaders urged Nasser to reform the Egyptian economy, decrease Egypt's military involvement in Yemen, and allow the Soviet Navy unfettered access to Egyptian ports. But like numerous other small powers during the Cold War, Egypt was able to fend off the pressure of its superpower ally. In May 1967, when Egypt unilaterally decided to bring its forces into the Sinai, Soviet leaders were divided over how to respond to the crisis that engulfed the Middle East. In the end, the more cautious faction in Moscow prevailed, and the Soviet government continued to be wary of becoming embroiled in conflicts initiated by radical Third World regimes.

Imbalance of Power: The Soviet Union and the Congo Crisis, 1960–1961

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Iandolo
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Third World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Defining Moment ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Congo Crisis ◽  
The Third World

The 1960–1961 Congo crisis was a defining moment for the Cold War in the Third World. This article combines declassified Soviet documents with published and archival sources from the United States, Great Britain, and Ghana to assess the role of the Soviet Union in the development of the Congo crisis. The Soviet government initially worked to establish economic relations with the newly formed independent government in Congo, but Soviet leaders had to shift their strategy when confronted by Western intervention in Congo and the prospect of a civil war. Despite Nikita Khrushchev's threats that Soviet troops would intervene in the conflict, the USSR did not have the military wherewithal to guarantee the survival of the Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba or other pro-Soviet elements. This outcome ended a brief phase of Soviet success in Africa and significantly altered Soviet policy in the Third World.

The Soviet Union and the Third World

1982 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 708
Author(s):  
Deborah Anne Palmieri ◽  
E. J. Feuchtwanger ◽  
Peter Nailor
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Third World ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Third World

4. American foreign policy during the Cold War

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Saull
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Third World ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter offers a theoretically informed overview of American foreign policy during the Cold War. It covers the main historical developments in U.S. policy: from the breakdown of the wartime alliance with the USSR and the emergence of the US–Soviet diplomatic hostility and geopolitical confrontation,to U.S. military interventions in the third world and the U.S. role in the ending of the Cold War. The chapter begins with a discussion of three main theoretical approaches to American foreign policy during the Cold War: realism, ideational approaches, and socio-economic approaches. It then considers the origins of the Cold War and containment of the Soviet Union, focusing on the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. It also examines the militarization of U.S. foreign policy with reference to the Korean War, Cold War in the third world, and the role of American foreign policy in the ending of the Cold War.

Winning the Third World

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregg A. Brazinsky
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Third World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
The Third World

Winning the Third World examines afresh the intense and enduring rivalry between the United States and China during the Cold War. Gregg A. Brazinsky shows how both nations fought vigorously to establish their influence in newly independent African and Asian countries. By playing a leadership role in Asia and Africa, China hoped to regain its status in world affairs, but Americans feared that China's history as a nonwhite, anticolonial nation would make it an even more dangerous threat in the postcolonial world than the Soviet Union. Drawing on a broad array of new archival materials from China and the United States, Brazinsky demonstrates that disrupting China's efforts to elevate its stature became an important motive behind Washington's use of both hard and soft power in the "Global South."

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