ABSTRACT

This chapter is devoted to the changing framework of the Soviet foreignpolicy thinking. Radical transformations taking place in the Soviet Union cover first of all a wide range of internal aspects of social life. The idea of interdependence, once accepted by political consciousness, opens the way to some more radical changes of the foreign-policy perceptions. The most important aspect of the evolution going on in the Soviet security perceptions seems to be related to the threat assessment. The changes take place both in the vision of the global situation and in the analysis of concrete cases. Under Gorbachev the Soviet Union put qualitatively important goals above traditional quantitative approaches. It opened up the way to the decisive breakthroughs in the field of the arms control – such as the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces-Treaty or the CFE negotiations.