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New political thinking reassessed*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2010

Peter Shearman
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Extract

New political thinking on international relations during the Gorbachev era of Soviet politics received considerable attention in the West from government agencies and academics. Much of the analysis was concerned with matters of immediate policy relevance, and the relatively few attempts to assess new thinking in more theoretical terms tended to assume that one state-directed ideology (or official belief system) was now giving way to another in order to justify the radical shifts in policy being dictated by domestic economic factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 139 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1993

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References

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28 This was a theme Gorbachev took up in many of his speeches and writings and was the driving force of ‘glasnost’. In his book on Perestroika, he wrote: ‘The political economy of socialism is stuck with outdated concepts and is no longer in tune with the dialects of life. Philosophy and sociology, too, are lagging behind the requirements of practice. Historical science must undergo a major revision’ (Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika: New Thinkingfor our Country and the World (Moscow, 1987), p. 49).

29 Shakhnazarov, Georgi, ‘Governability of the World’, International Affairs (Moscow), 3 (1988), pp. 16–24; p. 16Google Scholar.

30 Quoted in Vladimir Wozniuk, ‘The Propaganda Campaign for a New Orthodoxy in Soviet Social Science’, Political Communication and Persuasion, 6 (1989), pp. 249–68; p. 262.

31 It was possible to identify a strong realist bent in Primakov's pre-glasnost writings. See, for example, Primakov, E. M., Istoriia Odnogo Sgovora (Moscow, 1985)Google Scholar for an account of the international politics of the Middle East and the Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel. Jerry Hough notes in his study that Primakov wrote in the language of geopolitics—of'poles’, ‘equilibrium’, ‘balancing’, ‘centers of force’. See Hough, The Strugglefor the Third World, p. 255. It is worth mentioning that Primakov, a member of the CPSU since 1959 had earlier worked for Pravda, the Party newspaper, as a columnist and then Deputy Editor, and Yakovlev, and Arbatov and Shakhnazarov had all worked in the Communist Party's Central Committee apparatus.

32 See Holsti, The Dividing Discipline.

33 The classificatory scheme is fairly common. See, for example, ‘Introduction’, in Michael Smith, Richard Little, and Michael Shackleton (eds.) Perspectives on World Politics (London, 1981), pp. 2–11. For a slightly different classificatory scheme see James N. Rosenau, ‘Order and Disorder in the Study of World Politics: Ten Essays in Search of Perspective’, in Maghroori and Ramberg (eds.) Globalism Versus Realism, pp. 1–8.

34 Kubalkova and Cruickshank, Soviet New Thinking, p. 19.

35 Kubalkova and Cruickshank, Soviet New Thinking, p. 40.

36 Kubalkova and Cruickshank, Soviet New Thinking, p. 42.

37 Kubalkova and Cruickshank, Soviet New Thinking, p. 62.

38 A theme running throughout their book, but see especially p. 107.

39 Legvold, Robert, ‘The Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy’, Foreign Affairs, 68 (1988/1999), pp. 82–98; p. 91CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 Petrovsky, V. F., ‘Postkonfrontatsionnaia Perspektiva OON’, Mirovaia Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnoshenia, 4 (1990), pp. 16–24Google Scholar.

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42 Petrovsky, ‘A Dialogue’, p. 8.

43 Petrovosky, ‘A Dialogue’, p. 11.

44 Vestnik, August 1990—an interview with Petrovsky, who was a delegate to the CSCE meeting in Copenhagen, Summer 1990. Vestnik was a new glossy magazine published by the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

45 For example, see Petrovsky, Vladimir, ‘Priorities in a Disarming World’, International Affairs (Moscow), 3 (1991), pp. 3–8; p. 3Google Scholar.

46 Petrovsky, ‘Priorities in a Disarming World’, p. 3.

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48 V. F. Petrovsky, ‘Likat otvety na vyvovy vremeni’, Krasnaia Zvezda, 4 June 1991.

49 Izvestia, 13 August 1991.

50 Petrovsky, ‘Priorities in a Disarming World’, p. 8.

51 Pozdnyakov, Elgiz and Shadrina, Irina, ‘Humanisation and Democratisation of International Relations’, Social Sciences Quarterly Review (Moscow), 2 (1990), pp. 183–98Google Scholar, and Pozdnyakov, E., ‘Natstional nye, gosudarstvennye i klassovye interesy v mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniiakh’, Mirovaia Ekonomika i Mezhdunardonye Otnosheniia, 5 (1988) pp. 3–17Google Scholar.

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55 Pozdnyakov and Shadrina, ‘Humanisation and Democratisation’, p. 194.

56 Pozdnyakov and Shadrina, ‘Humanisation and Democratisation’, p. 195.

57 Pozdnyakov and Shadrina, ‘Humanisation and Democratisation’, p. 196.

58 Pozdnyakov and Shadrina, ‘Humanisation and Democratisation’, p. 197. See Richard Falk, ‘Future Worlds’, Headline Series, no. 229 (New York, 1976).

59 Pravda 28 September 1988.

60 Shevardnadze, Eduard, The Future Belongs to Freedom (London, 1991) pp. 66–7Google Scholar.

61 See, for example, Yakovlev, Alexander, ‘Dostizhenie Kachesvenno Novogo Sostoiania Sovetskogo Obshchestva i Obshchestvennye Nauki’, Kommunist, 8 (1987)Google Scholar, and ‘The Humanistic Choice of Perestroika’, World Marxist Review, 2 (1989), pp. 8–13.

62 For his own account of his personal intervention see Time, 4 March 1991, and Time, 11 March 1991.

63 Shevardnadze, The Future Belongs to Freedom, p. 106.

64 For example, see Primakov, Yevgenni, ‘USSR Policy on Regional Conflicts’, International Affairs (Moscow), 6 (1988), pp. 3–9Google Scholar. See also his article in Pravda, 10 July 1987. See also Kislov, A., ‘Novoe politicheskoe myshlenie i regional'nye konflikty’, Mirovaia Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniia, 6(1988), pp. 39–47Google Scholar.

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72 Kokoshin, ‘Europe We Need’, p. 17.

73 Kokoshin, ‘Europe We Need’, p. 17.

74 Kokoshin, ‘Europe We Need’, pp. 17–18.

75 Kokoshin, ‘Europe We Need’, p. 19. See also Andrei Kokoshin and General Major Valentin Larenov, ‘Voennaia Doktrina na Sluzhbe Mira’, Kommunist, 15 (1990), pp. 100–10, for a realistic appraisal of Soviet security needs based upon ‘reasonable sufficiency’.

76 A. Kokoshin and S. Chugrov (in conversation) ‘Bezopasnost’ v 90-e god: otkaz ot stereotipov’, Mirovaia Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniia, 2 (1991), pp. 123–30: p. 123. For an earlier indication of his great power focus, see his SShA: Zafasadam globalnoi politiki, (Moscow, 1981).

77 Kokoshin, ‘Bezopasnost’.

78 Zubok, Vladislav and Kokoshin, Andrei. ‘American Sociology and Political Science Today’, Social Sciences Quarterly Review (Moscow), 3 (1991), pp. 21–36Google Scholar. See also Kokoshin, A., Kremenyuk, V. and Sergeyev, V., ‘A Study of International Negotiations: New Approaches’, Social Sciences Quarterly Review (Moscow), 1 (1990), pp. 163–76Google Scholar.

79 On this, see Eberhard Shreider, ‘Soviet Foreign Policy Think Tanks’, Washington Quarterly (Spring 1988), pp. 145–55.

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84 Kozyrev, ‘Confidence and the Balance of Interests.

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86 Kokoshin, ‘Bezopasnost’, p. 124.

87 Lukin, V. P. and Nagorny, A. A., ‘Kontseptiia treygolnika SSR-SShA-KNR: novye real nosti mirovoi politika’, SShA: ekonomika, politika, ideologiia 6 (1988)Google Scholar.

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91 See Alexander Golts, ‘Ane khvatit li s nas illuzii i ambitsii’, Krasnaia Zvezda, 13 June 1991. Since the August coup attempt in 1991 and the subsequent break-up of the USSR, the theme of Russia acting as a balancing power between Europe and Asia has become prominent in realist writing. See, for example, A Bogaturov, M. Kozhokin and K. Pleshakov, ‘Mezhdu vostakom i zapadom: kontseptsiia vneshnei politiki RSFSR v perekhodnyi period’, Nezavisimaia gazela, 25 September 1991. Gaullism of France in the 1960s has also become a model for many. See for example Andrei Kortunov, ‘Rossiya i de GolP, Moskovskie novosti, 9 September 1990, in which Kortunov suggests Russia should try and balance herself between the EEC, the United States and the Pacific States. Kokoshin has also used the de Gaulle analogy when arguing that Russia should not pursue a policy of nuclear disarmament: ‘Charles de Gaulle made France a nuclear power not for the purpose of deterring us, but in order to regain his country's great power status’. See interview with Kokoshin in New Times. (Moscow) 8 (1992), pp. 26–27.

92 See, for example, ‘Polemics’ (interviews with Marshall Sergei Akhromeyev), New Times (Moscow), 14 (1991), pp. 14–19, and New Times, 15 (1991), pp. 12–17. For earlier views, see Akhromeyev, S., ‘Prevoskhodstvo Sovetskoi Voennoi Nauki i Sovetskogo Voennogo Iskustva—Odin iz Vazhneishikh Faktorov Pobedy v Velikoi Otechestvennoi Voine’, Kommunist, 3 (1985), pp. 49–63Google Scholar. Arbatov, G., Militarizm i Sovremennoe Obshchestvo, Kommunist, 2 (1987), pp. 104–115Google Scholar.

93 See Kokoshin and Larenov, ‘Voennaia Doktrina’.

94 Kortunov, Andrei, ‘New Dogma of the New Think’, Moscow News, 40 (1990), p. 3Google Scholar. See also Kortunov, Andrei, ‘Vneshnaia Politika’, Kommunist, 12 (1990), pp. 112–20Google Scholar.

95 Kortunov, ‘New Dogma of the New Think’, p. 3.