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An Emerging New Soviet Policy
| Article
# : |
15417 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1989 |
2,435 Words |
| Author
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Philip Nel
Philip Nel is director of the Institute for Soviet Studies at
the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. |
As is the case with perestroika, "new thinking" in Soviet foreign policy was not a ready-made commodity that only had to be marketed when Mikhail Gorbachev took power in 1985. While it was clear that the new Soviet leader had to initiate a new foreign policy to address the precarious position of the USSR, no one, not even Gorbachev, initially knew exactly how to tackle the task. In this respect, new thinking reflects a continuing learning process by the new Soviet government--a process that is not yet complete and still retains some elements of uncertainty and ambiguity.
What is already clear, however, is that the Gorbachev team entertains a radically different perspective on the general characteristics of the contemporary world from that held by its predecessors. Gone is the simplified Stalinist view that posited the existence of two world systems locked in a bitter struggle from which only one could emerge victorious. Gorbachev sees the world as a true system; that is, a unified organic whole that represents characteristics not represented by the sum of its component parts. This implies, inter alia, that the Soviet Union has to adjust its foreign behavior to better reflect its position within this unified whole. It also implies that instability in any part of the system should not be viewed in isolation but as something that has dire consequences for stability within the whole system.
Gorbachev's policy toward southern Africa should consequently be viewed, first, as a continuous learning process that has not yet been concluded. As such, it represents an attempt to reverse some of the setbacks experienced by the Soviet Union in the region during the immediately preceding period. Second, it should be viewed as a policy that tries
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