ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evolution of Soviet and post-Soviet foreign policy from the Gorbachev period to the present. It looks at foreign policy discussions in Russia and gives a general overview of the key foreign policy issues in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The chapter discusses the Clinton Administration’s initial approach to the former Soviet Union. A minority in the dissident community advocated sweeping changes in Soviet foreign policy. In the new world order, domestic developments play a central role in shaping the foreign policies of the newly independent states—their relations with each other and the outside world. Until the mid-1980s, the Soviet approach to world order was shaped to a significant degree by a Marxist-Leninist ideological framework, which emphasized the priority of class factors in determining foreign relations with other countries. The Soviet Union’s interest in taking advantage of the resources of the UN to facilitate the resolution of regional conflicts was a dramatic departure in Soviet policy.
