Gorbachev's Eurasian strategy: the dangers of success and failure
ResearchPublished 1989
This paper considers whether Mikhail Gorbachev's "new thinking" contributes to the attainment of Soviet strategic objectives or whether the path of Soviet foreign policy will, as widely assumed, lead to a more stable world. Close scrutiny reveals a remarkable symmetry between Gorbachev's Asian and European policies, and suggests that what may appear to be discrete and unrelated initiatives are really tactical elements of a coherent Eurasian strategy that is intended to serve two major objectives. The authors suggest that the immediate aim of Gorbachev's strategy is to immobilize the West at a time when the Soviet Union seeks a breathing space to revive its deteriorating economy. The longer-term objective is to establish a new modus vivendi with the United States and its allies in traditional power-political terms. Soviet foreign policy must eliminate ideology as a precondition for establishing the New Diplomacy, which, in turn, will lead to a new spheres-of-influence arrangement, or a new Yalta.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Year: 1989
- Print Format: Paperback
- Paperback Pages: 38
- Paperback Price: $20.00
- Document Number: P-7592
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De Santis, Hugh and Robert Manning, Gorbachev's Eurasian strategy: the dangers of success and failure, RAND Corporation, P-7592, 1989. As of September 20, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7592.html
De Santis, Hugh and Robert Manning, Gorbachev's Eurasian strategy: the dangers of success and failure. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1989. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7592.html. Also available in print form.
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