Implications and Options for the West

Abstract

For 40 years after World War II, the Soviet Union kept up the pretence that it was on the way to becoming a true super-power, although it was so only in the military dimension. The main features of its domestic political and economic system remained unchanging, as did the style of the Soviet leaders. Under Brezhnev, Soviet foreign policy was remarkably constant and predictable. Only when the United States was distracted domestically would the Kremlin undertake risky initiatives, especially in the Third World, as happened in the 1970s, in the aftermath of Watergate.