ABSTRACT
In a detailed analysis of the evolution of Soviet doctrine, James M. McConnell demonstrates that: “Most of the key decisions involved in the new approach to the Third World were made in the half decade at the turn of the Stalinist and post-Stalinist eras.” The toppling of the “progressive” Nkrumah government of Ghana in 1966 wrought a sharp change in Soviet policy toward military dictatorships. By the 1960s the Kremlin could take a most fundamental step in the formulation of a doctrine of intervention in the Third World, the definition of local war and a willingness to take up arms in such limited conflicts under certain conditions. Linked with the willingness of Moscow to intervene actively in Third World affairs was a new found appreciation of African and Asian military regimes. A sampling of Russian operations will serve to illustrate the Kremlin’s emergence upon the Third World stage.
