ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the “New Thinking” in Soviet foreign policy under Mikhail Gorbachev is primarily a reflection of domestic programs and priorities, in particular the reformist agenda centered around political and economic “restructuring.” After coming to power in March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev spurred major revisions of the Soviet approach to foreign affairs. On June 10, 1967, hours before the war between Israel and the neighboring Arab states ended, the Soviet government severed diplomatic relations with Israel. Until 1967, the Soviets had viewed the Palestinian problem primarily as a refugee problem. The Jordanian call for Soviet participation represented an important achievement for Gorbachev’s Middle East policy. Changes in Soviet Middle East policy cannot be divorced from the USSR’s changing approach to regional conflict resolution. The Soviet Union’s overriding concern with superpower relations seemed likely to only intensify in the wake of Iraq’s August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
