ABSTRACT
The international climate had changed appreciably and was by the time of the XXIV Party Congress in 1971 conducive to new approaches to East-West relations and to the creation of further strongholds in the political world structure. Soviet views on change, both international and domestic, must be seen against the background of a pervasive sense of political insecurity. The “Peace Program,” the Soviet blueprint for detente, appeared to be a rationally designed and comprehensive policy plan linking a number of domestic and foreign strategic goals. Soviet readiness to become a committed international actor stemmed first of all from domestic factors and in this respect from weakness rather than from strength. Soviet decision-making is collective decision-making; the decision is a compromise in which all actors can recognize some of their wishes and by which their power positions are to a great extent respected. The basic features of Soviet politics in general were present in the area of Soviet security policy.
