Soviet Third World Relations

Soviet-Third World Relations presents an overview of Soviet policy toward the less-developed countries and considers the determinants of that policy and its reflection in action. The authors first examine the theoretical underpinnings of Soviet-Third World policy, including Leninism and Soviet developmental models, and explore the tensions between prescribed "progressive" development strategies and the realities of Third World political processes. Next, the authors present a detailed look at the record of Soviet activities in the Third World. This is a chronological and regional account, which describes Soviet policy in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. This part also provides a discussion of the openings (such as local conflicts, "liberationist" movements, and socialist causes) and the obstacles (nationalism, anti-imperialism, the volatility of Third World politics) to Soviet policy in the Third World. It closes with an analysis of Soviet foreign policy tools, and asks whether chosen policy instruments achieve their desired objectives. In the final section of the book, the authors look at the decision-making context for Soviet-Third World relations, including an analysis of Soviet objectives, decision-making variables, and the participants in the decision-making process. They conclude by assessing trends in Soviet-Third World relations, the successes and failures of Soviet activities in the nonindustrial world, and analyzing the current situation. Here they address as well the lessons learned from the past and the prospects for the post-Brezhnev, post-Andropov era.

Several aspects of Soviet Third-World relations in a capitalist world are looked at in this book. These include tracing the roots of the Third World within the Marxist tradition, and discussing Soviet attitudes to the capitalist world market as they have evolved from the Bolshevik era to today.

This book brings together recent research on the end of the Cold War in the Third World and engages with ongoing debates about regional conflicts, the role of great powers in the developing world, and the role of international actors in conflict resolution. Most of the recent scholarship on the end of the Cold War has focused on Europe or bilateral US-Soviet relations. By contrast, relatively little has been written on the end of the Cold War in the Third World: in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. How did the great transformation of the world in the late 1980s affect regional conflicts and client relationships? Who "won" and who "lost" in the Third World and why do so many Cold War-era problems remain unresolved? This book brings to light for the first time evidence from newly declassified archives in Russia, the United States, Eastern Europe, as well as from private collections, recent memoirs and interviews with key participants. It goes further than anything published so far in systematically explaining, both from the perspectives of the superpowers and the Third World countries, what the end of bipolarity meant not only for the underdeveloped periphery so long enmeshed in ideological, socio-political and military conflicts sponsored by Washington, Moscow or Beijing, but also for the broader patterns of international relations. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, war and conflict studies, third world and development studies, international history, and IR in general.

This book examines the crucial role that Soviet policy toward the Third World played in Soviet efforts to influence the development of the international system in competition with the United States. It traces the evolution of Soviet policy toward the Third World.

This book explores the scope of Moscow's "new thinking" in its Third World context—highlighted by the USSR's surprising withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. It reviews the foreign policy record Gorbachev inherited and assesses his economic and strategic priorities in the diplomatic arena.

This is a thorough and sophisticated study of one of the most critical current issues in world politics. Bruce Porter examines Soviet policy and behaviour in Third World conflicts in the postwar period, focusing particularly on five examples: the Yemeni civil war, the Nigerian civil war, the Yom Kippur war, the Angolan civil war, and the Ogaden war. Aiming to illuminate various complex tactical and operational aspects of the USSR's policy in local conflicts, the author draws on a wide and eclectic range of sources. He pays close attention to the Soviet role as arms supplier and diplomatic actor in relation to both US policy and the dynamics of the local conflict, and he concludes with a careful consideration of the effectiveness of Soviet policy and of the implications for the United States.