ABSTRACT
Sub-Saharan Africa ranks lower in Soviet priorities than other Third World areas, in part because it is also a low priority for the West. Gorbachev's "new thinking" has produced a significant shift in Soviet policy toward sub-Saharan Africa, The Soviets have modified their support for revolutionary regimes and movements and have pursued policies of accommodation. Moscow achieved significant gains in sub-Saharan Africa during the 1970s. In supporting new Marxist regimes and national liberation causes in sub-Saharan Africa, Moscow enhanced its reputation as defender of those seeking independence from colonial rule, undermined the position of the United States and the West—and substantially extended its global reach. Several obstacles stand in the way of resolving conflict in sub-Saharan Africa through cooperative political negotiations. Among the more interesting developments in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of the decade of the 1980s is the move away from Marxist-Leninist ideology by the region's once socialist-oriented small states.
