ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1960s, the Romanian Socialist Republic has pursued a foreign policy strikingly at variance with the policies of its socialist allies, including the Soviet Union. Romanian foreign policy emerged from a dutiful, if laconic, imitation and approval of Soviet international policies into a period of murmuring dispute with the Soviet Union over the question of national economic planning and development. In terms of economic interactions the Romanians have engaged in similarly distinctive behavior. Direct Soviet--East European economic relations need to be considered, as the Soviet Union can in a number of ways spur or retard both the trade and internal economic development of its allies. The Romanian regime has learned two important and similar lessons about external military support. While the unique course of Romanian foreign policy stems from indigenous causes, e.g., economic mobilization, desire for party legitimacy, and depends on political and economic support both at home and abroad, it also requires a degree of Soviet tolerance.
