ABSTRACT
The section of this chapter describes and analyzes the content of the new ways of thinking, focusing on what the Soviet leaders are saying rather than on whether the statements reflect actual Soviet international relations policy. Economizing Soviet foreign policy emphasizes the positive side of relations with the capitalist world in particular, expanding trade and investment activity and thus providing the Soviet economy with an infusion of Western products, technology and management know-how. Similarly, Gorbachev's avowed perceptions of a global diffusion of power and of the primacy of economics in international relations imply that the risk is reduced of the United States, or any other state or group of states, successfully orchestrating and enforcing programs of economic coercion against the USSR. The new ways of thinking particularly the emphasis on the long-term nature of socialist-capitalist cooperation, the primacy of economics in world relations, and the role of international law and regulation set the correct tone.
