ABSTRACT
Disagreements between East and West on questions of regional security in Africa, South West Asia, and South East Asia have, since the mid-1970s, contributed considerably to the deterioration of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the period of poor relations in the early 1980s, one of the most plausible avenues to the outbreak of nuclear war is that of escalation from crisis and confrontation in the Third World — specifically in the Middle East, where the interests of the two blocs most clearly intersect. This chapter examines Soviet discussions of change and conflict in the Third World. It begins with an extensive treatment of Soviet perspectives on the issues during the Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko leaderships. The chapter then contrasts these with the development of official and scholarly attitudes on the subject during the Gorbachev period. It concludes by considering the implications of the analysis for Soviet-American relations in the Third World.
