ABSTRACT
The search for ‘the socio-political roots and economic and military causes of New Thinking’1 in Soviet foreign policy and military affairs has already produced a deluge of literature, employing a variety of approaches.2 Many works find the sociopolitical roots of ‘New Thinking’ in ‘ideas’ developed by the Soviet intelligentsia.3 Hagiographies of Gorbachev focus on the role of leadership.4 Others emphasize external causes, insisting either that personal contacts between Soviet and Western scholars, officials and leaders planted the seeds of ‘New Thinking’,5 or that the comparative growth of US and Soviet power created strong incentives for Soviet leaders to admit defeat in the Cold War.6 Finally, there are structural interpretations that find the sources of ‘New Thinking’ in the perverse performance of Soviet economic, military and political institutions.7
