The great transition American-Soviet relations and the end of the Cold War

Summary: The decade from 1981 through 1991 saw the remarkable transition from a renewed U.S. confrontation with the Soviet Union to the end of communist rule and the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself. This turning point is now history, history that is the foundation for what has been occurring between the United States and Russia and for what will evolve. In this book, one of America's foremost specialists on Soviet affairs provides a major contribution to our understanding of U.S.-Soviet relations. Raymond L. Garthoff picks up this story from his earlier account of the rise and fall of the detente of the 1970s. Covering the period of 1969 through 1980, Detente and Confrontation (first published by Brookings in 1985) studied American policy toward the Soviet Union under the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations, and Soviet policy toward the United States. This new book turns to the final chapter of American relations with the Soviet Union in the succeeding decade, 1981-1991, bringing to an end both the final period of American-Soviet relations and the story of the Cold War. The Great Transition features a detailed account of relations during the Reagan and Bush administrations and the Soviet leadership from the end of Brezhnev's rule through the revolutionary transformation of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev. Through his unusual access to many formerly secret Soviet documents, declassified American documents, and interviews with key American and Soviet officials, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Garthoff provides a rare, authoritative analysis of recent events. He examines the turn from renewed confrontation in the early 1980s to a new detente in the late 1980s in the interaction of the United States and the Soviet Union. The interrelationships of domestic factors and foreign and security policies in both countries are examined, as are the involvements of both powers with other countries around the world that infringed on their direct relationship. Garthoff analyzes political, ideological, economic, and security dimensions from both the American and Soviet perspectives. He offers an essential understanding of the Cold War and the final period of American-Soviet relations that should assist current and future leaders in building a more stable long-term relationship between the United States and Russia.

Record details

ISBN: 0585175772 (electronic bk.)
ISBN: 9780585175775 (electronic bk.)
ISBN: 0815730608
ISBN: 0815730594 (pbk.)
Physical Description: electronic resource
remote
1 online resource (xiv, 834 p.)
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution, c1994.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	1. The Reagan Administration's Challenge, 1981-82. Anti-detente and Anticommunism. The Vicar Sets Policy: "Restraint and Reciprocity" Restoring American Military Strength. Opening a Diplomatic Dialogue. Resetting Policy: "Strength and Dialogue" -- 2. The Response of the Brezhnev Regime, 1981-82. The Twenty-sixth Party Congress. The End of the Brezhnev Era -- 3. Renewed Dialogue Yields to New Tensions, 1983. Andropov's Succession. Washington's Mixed Signals. Growing Soviet Disillusionment. KAL 007 and the Andropov Declaration -- 4. Wary Exploration of Improved Relations, 1984. Reagan's New Rhetoric. The Chernenko Interregnum -- 5. Gorbachev and the Geneva Summit, 1985. Gradual Normalization. Gorbachev's Accession. Moving to the Summit. The Geneva Summit. Postsummit Doldrums -- 6. Gorbachev, Reagan, and the Reykjavik Summit, 1986. The Twenty-seventh Party Congress. Reagan's Course. The Reykjavik Summit. The Aftermath -- 7. The INF Treaty and the Washington Summit, 1987. Gorbachev on Two Fronts. Reagan on Two Fronts. Toward a Summit. The Washington Summit -- 8. Culmination of the Reagan-Gorbachev Rapprochement, 1988. Reagan's Course on Relations with the Soviet Union. Gorbachev Embattled over Perestroika. The Moscow Summit. Gorbachev's New Foreign Policy Initiative. The Fifth Summit: End of the Reagan-Gorbachev Era -- 9. The Bush Administration and Gorbachev, 1989. Bush Cautiously Moves "Beyond Containment" Triumphs and Trials of Perestroika. From Tremors to Upheaval in Eastern Europe. The Malta Summit -- 10. Ending the Cold War, 1990. European Security after the Cold War. Internal Soviet Developments and U.S.-Soviet Relations. The Washington Summit. The Twenty-eighth (and Last) Party Congress. German Reunification and the CFE Treaty. Mounting Crisis in the Soviet Union -- 11. The Collapse of Communist Rule and of the Soviet Union, 1991. Gorbachev Leans to the Right. Gorbachev Resumes a Drive for Reform. The Moscow Summit and the START Treaty. Coup and Countercoup. From Gorbachev and the Union to Yeltsin and the Commonwealth. American-Soviet Relations, the Final Phase -- 12. The Evolving Strategic Relationship: Military Power, Arms Control, and Security. Strategic Autarky and Confrontation: 1981-85. Taming the Strategic Relationship: 1986-89. Toward Common Security: 1990-91 -- 13. Europe and American-Soviet Relations. Western Divergence over Detente. The Polish Crisis, 1981-83. The Struggle over INF, 1981-83. Strategic Arms Negotiation: SDI, INF, and START, 1983-91. Eastern Europe in American and Soviet Policy in the 1980s. European Security, Confidence-Building, and Conventional Forces Reduction (CFE). The Revolutions of '89 and '91 and the New Europe of the 1990s -- 14. Asia and American-Soviet Relations. Chinese Policy. U.S.-Chinese Relations. Sino-Soviet Relations. Japan and East Asia. Asia in American-Soviet Relations -- 15. Competition in the Third World. The Haig Doctrine, 1981-82. The Reagan Doctrine, 1983-88. The Soviet Role: On the Defensive, 1980-87. The "Gorbachev Doctrine," From Competition to Cooperation, 1988-91 -- 16. Retrospect and Prospect. Looking Back: The Cold War in Retrospect. Looking Back: The Final Years of the Cold War. Looking Forward: American-Russian Relations in the Post-Soviet Era. Looking Forward: International Relations in the Post-Cold War Era.
Source of Description Note:	Description based on print version record.