This book contains the papers on Soviet foreign policy, concentrating on the constants that form the bedrock of Soviet policy and the Soviet variant of a policy of detente. It deals with the cultural-historical background that lies behind the political outlooks of the United States and Russia.
The relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States at the end of the 1970s was dominated by a series of conflicts over arms control issues and interventions in the Third World. In the end, the sum of these conflicts destroyed the framework of relaxation of superpower tension known as detente and ushered in a period of renewed Cold war rivalry in the early 1980s. It is now possible to look more closely at what happened in the relationship between Washington and Moscow in this era through recently declassified Soviet and American documents. This volume contains a number of interpretative essays from leading Cold War historians, as well as some of the more important documents from Eastern Bloc and American archives. It centres on the SALT II negotiations, on conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan and on bilateral issues, such as trade and human rights.
In this revised edition of his acclaimed 1985 volume, incorporating newly declassified secret Russian as well as American materials, Raymond Garthoff reexamines the historical development of American-Soviet relations from 1969 through 1980. The book takes into account both the broader context of world politics and internal political considerations and developments, and examines these developments as experienced by both sides. Despite a long history as rivals and adversaries, the U.S. and the Soviet Union reached a ditente in relations in 1972. From 1975 to 1979, however, this ditente gradually eroded until it collapsed in the wake of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Garthoff recounts how differences in ideology, perceptions, aims, and interests were key determinants of both U.S. and Soviet policies. Involvements in Europe, with China, and in the third world further entangled their relations. And each saw the other not only as harboring hostile intentions but also as building military and other capabilities to support such aims. Ditente--as well as confrontation--remained an alternative only within the constraints of a continuing cold war. Praise for the first edition: "A gold mine of information." The New York Times Book Review "A monumental contribution offering insightful, rarely considered comparisons of Soviet and American perspectives." Library Journal Praise for the revised edition: "This unprecedented, detailed volume adds invaluable new information to the public knowledge and the historical record." Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin
With a foreword by Henry A. Kissinger. A one-volume joint documentary publication presenting the formerly secret record of how the United States and Soviet Union moved from Cold War to detente during 1969-1972. Published side-by side are U.S. and Soviet accounts of meetings between Henry Kissinger and Soviet Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin, the so-called Kissinger-Dobrynin confidential channel, related documents, and the full Soviet and U.S. record of the first Moscow Summit between President Richard Nixon and Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev. The Soviet documents are being released in the volume for the first time anywhere.
Originally published in 1995. In the early 1970s, largely as a result of the debilitating struggle in Vietnam, the United States began to reassess and redefine its basic approach to East-West relations. At the same time, the Soviet Union was awakening to the liabilities that a continuing and unregulated state of hostility would impose on its own internal and external agenda. Keith Nelson details the circumstances and traces the steps that led to the first significant accommodation and easing of tension between the superpowers during the Cold War. "In this important study, Keith Nelson explains the detente period in an imaginative, convincing, and impressively scholarly manner. Although there have been scores of books and memoirs on the subject, none have done the job quite like Nelson's. In particular, he has used post-glasnost Russian memoirs and monographs—and, especially, his own interviews with such key players as Dobrynin and Arbatov—to present one of the most intelligent Kremlinological studies I have ever seen." —Melvin Small, Wayne State University