Toward a Cold War or a Cold Peace?

Abstract

Perestroika has been a programme of political and economic liberalisation that was supposed to modernise the Soviet Union; President Gorbachev wanted to end stagnation, which he inherited from the Brezhnev era. He thought that by giving the Soviet people an increased role in setting policy and increased freedom of expression, he would generate more energy and commitment to strengthen the Soviet state. However, those liberated forces moved the Soviet Union and its society (or rather those politically mature) in unforeseen directions. Within a relatively short time-span, communism as a state ideology, and all that it stood for, had collapsed. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, its replacement by Russia and the emergence of Yeltsin as President, it seemed as if Russia’s path should lead to the West - toward a system of liberal government. Indeed, Russia’s foreign policy under Yeltsin initially indicated a trend toward joining the industrially developed countries and a definite break with the messianic ideas of the former Soviet Union (Timmerman, 1994). It looked as if Russia despite the internal political disagreements had found its basic direction.