ABSTRACT

Most Western discussion of economic reform in the Soviet Union focuses on the domestic stimuli for it and especially the domestic political obstacles to it. This chapter deals with a discussion of the foreign-related requirements for and obstacles to reform and ends with speculation about its possible foreign policy implications. In the Soviet Union, the Communist Party associated itself with Russian nationalism in several ways. First, the concept of a strong, centralized party implied Russian control over the non-Russian borderlands. The importance of the link with Russian nationalism means that the problems created by Soviet economic performance are, in the long run, far deeper and more threatening than consumer dissatisfaction with long lines and a narrow choice of consumer goods. The attack on protectionism that must be part of any thorough economic reform has a series of implications that have not been fully understood in the West, and these will complicate the already difficult task of building support for reform.