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A Model for Study of Soviet Foreign Policy*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
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Soviet foreign policy has been a subject of extensive and intensive study ever since the painful birth of the Soviet state. All the writings and investigations, except for the purely descriptive, are based in some degree on one or several key premises and assumptions of authors who used them to explain and interpret Soviet foreign policy. This is understandable and probably inevitable in view of the enormous significance of the subject matter, the vastness of observed behavior in time and in space, and the lack of available information on policy making. Consequently, scientific, intuitive, and even merely hopeful thinking has been applied to the evidences of Soviet foreign policy in an effort to find a method of analysis, a frame of reference, a tool of orientation which might permit some systematization of the whole subject.
Clearly, a single seemingly well-constructed theory of Soviet foreign policy which purports to offer a key to broad analysis is too attractive for an analyst to ignore. But however plausible it may seem, it cannot possibly offer the whole answer. Some elements of Soviet foreign policy may be isolated, focalized, dissected, and examined, but others cannot be subject to even speculative, crude estimates.
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References
1 Thus, some authors have considered Marxist philosophy the key; others have stressed the over-all significance of Soviet ideology; still others claim that Soviet foreign policy represents simply a continuation of Russian nationalism, traditionalism, and imperialism; the theory of bureaucratic tyranny has been advanced in several variants; the Byzantium theory of Russian-Western conflict explains Soviet foreign policy in terms of its inherent antagonism towards the West; the need for security or the necessity for expansion is another rationale; and geographical location, Asiatic influence and heritage, urge to the sea, Gorer's swaddling hypothesis, social psychology explanations of “national character,” and many other theories have been developed to clarify, explain and interpret Soviet foreign policy, either by themselves or in combination with others. See Glaser, William A., “Theories of Soviet Foreign Policy: A Classification of the Literature,” World Affairs Quarterly, Vol. 27, pp. 128–152 (July, 1956)Google Scholar. See also Reshetar, John S. Jr.,, Problems of Analyzing and Predicting Soviet Behavior, Doubleday Short Studies in Political Science (New York, 1955)Google Scholar.
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14 The recently published and widely debated book Not By Bread Alone by Vladimir Dudintsev proved to be such an exception to this rule that it caused quite a stir within the Soviet Union.
15 American viewers had this fact solidly and vividly confirmed by Khruschchev when he appeared on the CBS television network's “Face the Nation” on June 2, 1957, and prophesied that “your grandchildren in America will live under socialism.”
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29 Khrushchev, Speech before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR, supra, p. 39.
30 New York Times, March 6, 1956, p. 1, col. 8.
31 New York Times, Jan. 31, 1956, p. 8.
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37 New York Times, Feb. 26, 1956, p. 2, col. 8; for the text of the resolution, see XX s'ezd kommunisticheskoi partii Sovetskogo Soiwza, supra, pp. 409 and 499.
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41 “To strengthen by all means the fraternal relations with the People's Republic of China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, Albania, the (East) German Democratic Republic, the People's Democratic Republic of (North) Korea, the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam and the Mongolian Peoples Republic, remembering that the greater the unity and might of the Socialist countries the more secure is the cause of peace.
“To strengthen by all means friendship and cooperate with the fraternal people of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia.” Ibid.
42 “To reinforce indefatigably the bond of friendship and cooperation with the republic of India, Burma, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and other states that stand for peace. To support countries that refuse to be involved in military blocs; to cooperate with all forces seeking to preserve peace.
“To develop and strengthen friendly relations with Finland, Austria, and other neutral countries.” Ibid.
43 “To conduct an active policy of further improving relations with the United States of America, Britain, France, Western Germany, Japan, Italy, Turkey, Iran and other countries, with a view to strengthening mutual confidence, extending trade, and expanding contacts and cooperation in the sphere of cultural science.” Ibid., pp. 41 and 42.
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48 Khrushchev, supra, p. 10.
49 “It is the sacred duty of every state where the working class is in power to preserve and develop mutual friendship and cooperation, and the unity of the Socialist states will continue to strengthen with each day.” Pravda, June 20, 1957.
50 For Soviet propaganda as a factor economizing the material cost of world domination, see Lasswell, H. D., “The Strategy of Soviet Propaganda,” Proceedings, The Academy of Political Science, Vol. 24 (1951), p. 214CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
51 Cf. Goodman, Elliot R., “The Soviet Union and World Government,” Journal of Politics, Vol. 15 (1953), p. 251CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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