This systematic observation of foreign policy within the Soviet Union
shows how such phenomena as nuclear warfare, continued Western
prosperity, and the Sino-Soviet split have forced analysts to diverge
sharply from traditional Leninist orthodoxy. The result has been a
Soviet analysis of world politics that is considerably more complex and
politically sophisticated than westerners often assume. This is
manifested in an increasingly multipolar world view, accepting the
continued existence of the United States, in which the USSR is seen as
an integral component of an international system rather than simply as
the center of a unique and expanding system of its own. Fundamental to
this changing perspective is the perception that no Soviet interests
could possibly be served by nuclear war. In an extended preface to this
paperback edition, Allen Lynch examines the impact of the recent
Gorbachev reform initiative on the intellectual basis of Soviet foreign
policy.