ABSTRACT
The state system has been ever more stabilized since its inception after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, and particularly so in 20th century, with the growth of international co-operation, most developed after the establishment of United Nations in 1945. Foreign policy orientation played a very small role concerning the diagnosis of situation in Soviet Union in respect to foreign policy. In other words, a Swedish politician did not make the assessment that Soviet foreign policy had markedly changed at any different point in time than did his British counterpart. Foreign policy orientation played an important role in accounting for the differing explanations offered by representatives of the four governments (Sweden, Great Britain, France, and the United States) for why Mikhail Gorbachev started the reforms. The comparison between Britain and the US in explaining the changes in Soviet policy after 1985 showed the limits of existing similarities between foreign policy orientations of two countries in terms of assessing Soviet affairs.
