ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine not only the roots of the change in Soviet ideology and foreign policy but also the roots of the persistence of traditional Soviet behavior. Most significant is Soviet behavior that has been proscribed by new thinking: the maintenance of the largest military in the world, sizable numbers of foreign-based troops, a vast and widely dispersed navy, a huge program of weapons transfers, and an enormous nuclear arsenal. The chapter argues that the persistence of such behavior reflects the persistence of Leninism. The critical difference between Leninist thinking and the great-power orientation is that the latter is fundamentally aligned with new thinking in that it ultimately does seek to achieve a cooperative world order. The difference is that new thinking claims that when nations focus on their national interests they will naturally find certain equilibrium, because, at a fundamental level, nations' interests are interdependent and therefore ultimately convergent.
