ABSTRACT
The Soviet leadership placed its revised policy towards the Third World in the context of new thinking in foreign policy. The fundamental concept of this new thinking was that the human race was confronted with global challenges to which it had to find a joint response. Improved relations with the United States as the foremost power in the Western alliance system are of decisive importance. But the new Soviet foreign policy makes possible a change in relations with the countries of Western Europe, a change which may be capable of relieving the Soviet Union of more than external pressure. The Soviet leadership found itself relying more and more on economic and technological cooperation with Western countries. The Soviet side used bilateralism with the United States to prevail upon Washington to disregard the wishes and needs of its Western European allies.
