ABSTRACT
"Convergence" theory has been popular in Western academic and official circles since the late 1960s, although it has come under increasing criticism recently. Convergence theory implies that Soviet economic and technological requirements could establish overwhelming incentives for the Soviet Union to moderate its foreign policy. The Soviet Union were an emerging status quo power, that development would represent an absolute rejection of Marxism-Leninism. The Angolan Civil War may be viewed as illustrative of the Soviet interpretation of peaceful coexistence. The somewhat euphoric acceptance of the detente agreements by segments in Western society may have prompted the widespread conclusion that the Soviet Union had joined the ranks of status quo powers. Strategic stability in the Western sense promotes the status quo in international politics because the United States generally is a status quo power, and American foreign policy objectives generally entail a maintenance of the status quo in many regions.
