ABSTRACT
Acknowledging critical domestic constraints mitigating against a direct transition to socialism and adapting to geopolitical realities, the Sandinista government forged a foreign policy which, though increasingly focused on survival, eschewed East-West alignment. In the face of early counter-revolutionary threats and escalating US hostility, however, the Sandinistas also demonstrated a determination to wage diplomatic campaigns and pursue military development for the defense of the revolution. Membership and active diplomatic roles in Third World and regional forums, meanwhile, afforded the Sandinistas increased economic and political maneuverability as well as progress toward their objective of expanding and balancing their international contacts. The Sandinistas' foreign policy was designed to shape external environments and opportunities. The Ronald Reagan Administration objective of reasserting the United States' continental hegemony, moreover, required that the Nicaraguan model be destroyed; this was an issue separate from the security arguments raised publically by the Reagan foreign policy sector.
