ABSTRACT
Mikhail Gorbachev has on several occasions described the transformation he has prescribed for the Soviet Union as a 'revolution within the Revolution'. The Gorbachev leadership's policy can be characterized by a growing emphasis on Soviet domestic interests and needs. The developments within the Soviet Union had significant consequences for the country's conduct towards the outside world. Under Leonid Brezhnev, foreign-policy interests had always taken priority; the exigencies of foreign policy had had to be fulfilled unconditionally. Soviet foreign-policymakers looked around for possible ways of extricating their country from its commitments without losing face and without leaving their former friends completely in the lurch. The Gorbachev leadership's endeavours to curtail the influence of the bureaucracies had its effects on foreign policy. The point of departure was the public criticism of the autocratic decisions taken by Brezhnev with just a small inner circle of advisers.
