ABSTRACT
A revolution is under way in Soviet foreign policy greater than any in the postwar period, indeed greater than any since Lenin in the early years of his regime accepted the failure of the pan-European revolution and allowed the Soviet Union to join the game of nations. The revolution in Soviet foreign policy is occurring on yet another level, where notions more directly inform practical choice, the level of policy concepts. If Soviet leaders are rethinking the very notion of national security, they are also revising the concepts that guide their defense decisions and their negotiating posture in arms control settings. To a degree particularly difficult for Americans to understand, fundamental assumptions, on which the entire edifice of Soviet foreign policy beliefs ultimately rests, are at stake. The first time was in the years following 1917, when Lenin's rationalization of the Russian Revolution as the "spark" for a European revolution died, and Soviet leaders were left to fend for themselves.
