ABSTRACT
Domestic and foreign policy are more closely connected under perestroika than at any previous stage in Soviet development. Any serious assessment of the correlation between domestic and foreign policy strategies at different stages in Soviet development would require the elaboration of a complex set of criteria. Mikhail Gorbachev is the first Soviet leader to see the salvation of the Soviet Union in a strongly Westernizing strategy rather than temporary tactic. On the other hand, democratizing reforms with the Soviet Union have contributed substantially to the creation of a non-threatening and more acceptable image abroad which remains essential to the successful pursuit of Gorbachev's more cooperative foreign policy strategy. On the foreign policy front it obviously increases the credibility of Soviet disarmament intentions. Most Soviet economists would concur with this assessment; even Gorbachev has become increasingly sober since 1988 about overcoming the knot of linked domestic and international economic problems.
