1989 Reports

Economic Reform and Military Technology in Soviet Security Policy

Evangelista, Matthew

Mikhail Gorbachev’s “new thinking” in security policy has been greeted with some measure of ambivalence in the West. There is a suspicion that the new line in foreign policy is intended merely to provide a temporary “breathing space,” so that the internal program of reform, known as perestroika, can have a chance to revive the stagnant Soviet economy. Then, the argument goes, the Soviets will be back for another round of competition with the West, which will have meanwhile dropped its guard in anticipation of a long period of Soviet moderation. In this view, perestroika is a kind of fitness program for the Russian bear, making it stronger, but no less dangerous.