Soviet “New Thinking” and the Central American Crisis

1987 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-106
Author(s):  
Voytek Zubek
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Central American ◽  
The West ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
Potential Success ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Domestic Policies

A revolution can only be legitimate if it is capable of defending itself(Lenin, Sochinenia).While it is Still too Early to draw decisive conclusions about the ongoing process of reform in the USSR, there are some observations that might safely be made. Glasnost has generally come to be viewed as a profound attempt to re-evaluate a number of time-honored principles of Marxism-Leninism before the actual undertaking of perestroika (policy reform) itself. If the scope and potential success of perestroika are the subject of heated scholarly debate in the West, a consensus holds that, thus far, a process of rethinking, re-evaluating, and transforming approaches to domestic policies in the USSR lie at its core. In light of the importance of the reform for the evolution of the Soviet domestic system, its influence upon the conduct of Soviet foreign policy represents an intriguing area for examination.

Initiative and Response in Soviet Foreign Policy

1963 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-187
Author(s):  
Richard J. Barnet
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Source Materials

IT is a commonplace in the West to think of Soviet foreign policy in terms of a grand strategy. Yet the subject has more often than not intimidated scholars into taking the route of specialization. Problems of obtaining source materials as well as the desire to avoid complexity and controversy have frequently discouraged Sovietologists from approaching foreign policy in other than small pieces. During the past year, however, several new books have been added to the small number which both offer detailed analysis of an extended historical period and approach the development of general theory. Each of the books covers a broad period and each uses the technique of focusing on a particular instrument of Soviet foreign policy.

Foreign Policy: USSR: Darshan Singh, (Ed.): Soviet Foreign Policy Documents, 1978. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, 1980, xiv, 312 p., Rs. 100.

1982 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Persian Gulf ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Border Region ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
The West ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy: USSR: DARSHAN SINGH, ( Ed.): Soviet Foreign Policy Documents, 1978. JAPAN: RAJENDRA KUMAR JAIN: The USSR and Japan 1945–1980. CHINA: ANDREW WATSON, ( Ed.): Mao Zedong and the Political Economy of the Border Region (A Translation of Mao's Economic and Financial Problems). CHINA: H.D. MALAVIYA : Peking Leadership : Treachery and Betrayal. PERSIAN GULF: JAMES H. NOYES: The Clouded Lens: Persian Gulf Security and US Policy. PETER SINAI: New Lamps for Old: The Arabs and Iran Meet India's Energy Needs. AFRICA: MICHAEL A. SAMUELS, Ed.: Africa and the West. AFRICA: H.P.W. HUTSON: Rhodesia: Ending an Era.

New Departures

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-129
Author(s):  
Simon Miles
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
East West

This chapter covers Ronald Reagan's first meeting with Mikhail Gorbache in Geneva in November 1985, exploring the internal and external roots of the nascent new thinking in Soviet foreign-policy and its impact on East–West relations. It recounts how superpower relations over a five-year period became messy and contradictory as Moscow and Washington exchanged harsh words and engaged in more dialogue than is commonly thought. It also mentions how the process of ending the Cold War had begun as US policymakers regained confidence in their place in the world and their Soviet counterparts took drastic measures to deal with a deteriorating situation. The chapter refers to policymakers in Washington and Moscow who struggled with the dualities of the Cold War. It describes that the policymakers witnessed a strong and rising United States and a Soviet Union that was on a grim downward trajectory.

scholarly journals Identity and the concept of the West: the case of Brazil and India

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Stuenkel
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The West ◽  
Complex Combination ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Subject

This study aims to provide insights about how Brazil and India view and relate to the concept of the West, and how this affects their identity and foreign policy. Both countries' notions about the West are the subject of lively domestic discussion both in academia and the media, reflecting the struggle these countries find themselves in to define their identity as they rise. I argue that the concept of the West serves, in both Brazil and India, as a crucial concept to articulate their own identity-by a complex combination of criticizing, distancing itself from, or attempting to emulate the West.

The Uncertainty of Soviet Foreign Policy

1963 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-464
Author(s):  
S. I. Ploss
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy

Politics cannot tolerate indulgence, it must be logical and consistent.” This was a lesson in Soviet foreign policy which N. S. Khrushchev administered in July 1957, or just after the organizational finale to his bitter struggle with V. M. Molotov, whom the victorious leader accused of favoring “the policy of ‘tightening all the screws’” in relations with the West. However, in the past two and a half years, erraticism has often marked the Kremlin's foreign political behavior. Does this vacillation originate entirely in “objective” pressures on the party First Secretary and premier, or in his own allegedly impulsive nature, or may it sometimes be due in part to a recurrence of factional clashes in the Soviet hierarchy?

New Thinking and Soviet Policy Towards South Africa

1990 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Kempton
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
Marked Decline ◽  
National Reconciliation

During the last few years, Mikhail Gorbachev's new thinking has stimulated a number of dramatic and largely unexpected shifts in Soviet foreign policy. In Southern Africa, its effects have been both immediate and quite profound. The two most publicised changes have been Moscow's growing support for negotiations as a method of resolving the region's conflicts, and the related reduction of its commitments to the régimes in Angola and Mozambique. In fact, there is evidence that the Kremlin has been putting pressure on both its allies to engage in a process of ‘national reconciliation’ with the armed movements trying to overthrow them. At the rhetorical level, at least, there has also been a marked decline in Moscow's enthusiasm for revolutionary upheavals in Southern Africa.

The Formation of Soviet Foreign Policy: Organizational and Cognitive Perspectives

1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Organizational Issues ◽  
Methods Of Analysis ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cognitive Perspectives

Several recent studies of Soviet foreign policy formation have sought to bring oganizational and cognitive considerations to bear on the subject. The article evaluation these perspectives and suggests how future research may, through the use of cognit methods of analysis, distinguish formally between different conceptualizations of viet foreign policy formation, thus permitting a more rigorous empirical examination of the organizational issues involved. A model of inference that accounts for organiational and cognitive links between the Soviet press and Soviet foreign policy formation is also constructed; examples are drawn from the items under review. In conclusion the article outlines a research strategy for cumulating knowledge about how the Sov system works, and specifies what the organizational and cognitive frameworks the study of Soviet foreign policy formation may contribute to such a project.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document