At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union emerged as a leading power in the international sphere with more power than any other nation in Europe and Asia. During the Cold War period, the Soviet Union maintained its superpower status until the mid 1980’s when Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary and began initiating a restructuring plan, known as perestroika. Gorbachev sought to restructure Soviet foreign policy from the original communist doctrine based on the ideas of Marxism and replace it with a democratizing approach to international relations. Gorbachev’s goal of retaining and consolidating power while reforming, renovating, and revitalizing the Soviet economy and society lead to domestic turmoil and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. A once powerful communist regime with global influence had crumbled, ending the Cold War and leaving a unipolar international system of politics.

Until Gorbachev obtained power of the Soviet Union in the mid 1980’s, Soviet foreign policy was ideologically dominated by Marxism. In modern foreign policy theories, the state is the primary actor, but according to Marxism the state is part of a "superstructure" of society. This "superstructure" consisted of "the government, laws, and culture of society" and was used by the bourgeoisie to protect their property rights. The theory states that once the proletariat has rid society of capitalism and created their own dictatorship, the class struggle will no longer exist and the state will eventually dissolve. Every Soviet Union leader until Gorbachev has used the Marxist theory to defend his actions in foreign policy. Written in the Constitution of the USSR is the Soviet Union’s foreign policy, outlined with the Marxist theory:

Before analyzing the structure of the foreign policy apparatus, one must look at the structure of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). The CPSU is strongly centralized and plays a key role in foreign policy decisions. The primary decision maker in the CPSU is the Politburo which contains the Defense Council and the Secretariat. The Defense Council is chaired by the General Secretary and is mainly responsible for defense affairs. The Secretariat proposes the Politburo’s agenda for policy making, supervises the decision making process, and is responsible for appointments and dismissals from the Politburo. Over time, the General Secretary has been able to dominate the Secretariat and concurrently influence the primary bodies involved in the making of foreign policies.

From the end of World War II until Gorbachev’s restructuring process, the foreign policy apparatus was set up with shared power between the union republics and the USSR government Each union republic had its own foreign minister, yet the USSR Supreme Soviet, which was the centralization force, stringently centralized policies. Between sittings of the USSR Supreme Soviet, powers were given to its Presidium, a body of three dozen members that acted as the collective head of state for the USSR. The Presidium’s main roles included receiving foreign ambassadors, ratifying treaties, and declaring war. These were, however, only formal functions; the Presidium did not have enough power to decide important foreign policy decisions. Responsible to the Presidium was the Council of Ministers which was made up of Union-Republic Ministries and All-Union Ministries, as well as a Chairman, sometimes referred to as the President. The Council of Ministers’ primary roles included recognition of foreign states, supervising foreign policy negotiations and diplomatic relations, and concluding agreements that didn’t require legislative approval.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union had superpower status during the early 1980’s and ever since World War II, the two states had been involved in an arms race for power. Consequently, the Soviet Union’s primary foreign policy focus was with the United States and directed primarily towards the Soviet defence budget and technological advancements. Controversy in the early 1980’s between the two countries arose over the Soviet Union’s pursuit of détente in Europe, yet military expansionism in the third world. The Soviet Union attempted to support the political status quo of Europe by initiating arms controls and postponing ideological advancements, but contrarily initiating "Proletarian internationalism" in the third world. The United States rejected, then leader, Leonid Brezhnev’s two-sphere approach of interstate relations; the first sphere consisting of interstate relations and the second sphere involving the prosecution of the class struggle. Furthermore, the United States stated that they would resist any attempts of Soviet expansionism in the third world. These policies remained much the same for Brezhnev’s successors, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, who too suggested possible fusion of powers for the General Secretary and favoured military expansionism.

By establishing a diplomatic presence in the third world, the USSR would gain access to a country’s population in hopes to spread its socialist theory.

Hundreds of diplomats from the Soviet Union were dispatched to various regions of Africa, while in turn only two or three African diplomats were sent to the Soviet Union. Expansion in non-Communist states allowed the Soviet Union to gain access to information and establish posts for training and organizing future communist regimes. This in turn would increase their power and "show off" their technological strength and political orientation. By 1981, the Soviet Union had trained approximately 58,000 military personnel from the third world.

The Soviet Union also focussed a portion of its foreign policies towards a Soviet aid program for the Middle East and South Asia. Although the program was very selective and concentrated in nature, the majority of its aid went to India, Egypt, and Turkey. Aid, however, was not in the form of grants, but Soviet credits with a varying interest rate. The credits could be used for Soviet goods and did not extend to free purchase of commodities. Surprisingly, third world countries only used half of the Soviet economic credits offered. Analysis of the third world’s trading pattern with the Soviet Union, which only amounted to 5% of their total trade volume, shows that perhaps, once again, it was more of a one sided relationship.

After Brezhnev’s death in 1982, and two and a half years of rule by Andropov and Chernenko, a new era began. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee. With his new post, Gorbachev embarked on a strategy of perestroika that involved restructuring the Soviet foreign policy apparatus and for the first time, allowing political openness or glasnost. Gorbachev saw that the reliance on the "class struggle" theory was a barrier towards peace and that Marxist-Leninist ideas about the revolution of the Proletariat had become obsolete. His plans called primarily for,

Gorbachev could see that the Soviet Union was paying a price for its military expansionism. By the mid 1980’s, the Soviet Union could not keep up to the advancements that the United States was making in research and technology.

The arms race had became increasingly expensive for the Soviet Union and as a result, the Soviet economy had declined dramatically. While the rest of the world increased at a rapid pace in developing technological advancements, the Soviet Union was in a threatening position of being left behind. The Soviet Union’s standard of living began to fall and shortfalls in agriculture caused unneeded food shortages. Prior to 1985, the Soviet Union government regulated every aspect of economic activity and as a result productivity of workers drastically declined. Gorbachev saw a dissolving regime economically and also saw the threat of a confrontation with the ever-powerful United States if the Soviet Union continued in its present policy path.

To implement his plans of restructuring, Gorbachev would have to contend first with the United States. The Soviet Union had become vulnerable to foreign attacks and would need a stable international system with the absence of confrontation or surprise. In addition, three distinct empires had emerged during the Cold War that would also play an important factor in Gorbachev’s plans for perestroika. The first empire, known as the extended empire, consisted of the third world states in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (namely the socialist states of Angola, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen). Many said that Soviet involvement with the third world was both costly and an inconvenienced use of resources and energy. In response, "political, ideological, economic, and military associations" with most of these countries ceased. Secondly, the outer empire, was comprised of the Warsaw Pact states of Eastern Europe and Mongolia. These states were seen to be now out of Soviet control. East Germany declaring itself out of existence to merge with West Germany is a primary example of this. Finally, the third empire, the inner empire, was the group of Soviet republics. The inner empire was both attentive towards separating from the union and achieving greater autonomy on their policies and affairs.

After the retirement of Andrei Gromyko as head of state, Gorbachev took the USSR presidency. Gorbachev now had the full power that he needed to initiate changes to the decision making process. In an attempt to abolish the two spheres approach and "…expecting to improve economic performance while maintaining intact essential features of the socialist economic approach…", constitutional powers over foreign policy were moved from the Communist Party Apparat, the Secretariat, and the Politburo and to his new position as president and chief of the executive. Many, however, opposed Gorbachev’s restructuring of power, asserting that his unilateral declaration of power to a strictly centralized system was unjust. Further reforms to the inner workings of the decision making process left Gorbachev with even more power. First, Gorbachev abolished his Presidential Council and replaced the Council of Ministers by a Cabinet of Ministers and Prime Minister, which were both appointed by the President. Members of the Politburo and Secretariat became irrelevant with such immense power concentrated in the office of the president. Moreover, Gorbachev disestablished one-party rule, leaving the Communist Party as one among many.

In response to the abolishment of key positions for republic representation in the policy making bodies, many republics began to declare the right to create and nullify their own laws. In particular, Boris Yeltsin, a leftist communist reformer in the Russian Republic questioned Gorbachev’s economic dealings and intentions. The Russian Republic became the first to declare sovereignty when it announced that it would seek its own foreign policies and establish its own diplomatic representation in foreign countries. The Russian Republic also began to sign agreements with other republics on trade and cultural matters. Following from Russia’s declaration of sovereignty, Ukraine and Byeloussia signed agreements with Poland declaring themselves as sovereign states. Azerbardzhan has also signed independent treaties with Iran and other republics have even contemplated being admitted to the United Nations. In 1989, the Berlin wall fell and East Germany declared itself out of existence to merge with West Germany. Subsequently, in 1990, the Soviet Union accepted Hungary’s resolution to have multi-party elections. Free elections were held in other republics in 1990 and both non-Communist and anti-Communist governments were elected. The domestic transformations of many of the republics would turn out to be very difficult, however, and each would have to find their own place in the international system.

Soviet-American relations were at the top of Gorbachev’s policy agenda throughout the restructuring process. There was a large attempt on the part of Gorbachev to reduce conventional forces and an agreement was even signed with Ronald Reagan to eliminate the placement of intermediate range missiles. In return for the Soviet’s arms reductions, the union received economic aid from both the United States and Europe. The United States also wanted to see an increase in human rights in the union and Gorbachev responded by permitting thousands to leave the Soviet Union, including a large number of Jews who emigrated to Israel. At times, however, the United States did appear skeptical of Soviet actions and threatened to cease economic help if the Soviet Union refused to allow the Baltic States from separating. The Soviet Union in turn stated that it would fail to cooperate with the United States in the Persian Gulf if they failed to restrain themselves. Despite some setbacks, there was a general "…transition from enmity and confrontation to mutual understanding and cooperation…" between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Moreover, The Soviet Union and the United States reached an agreement involving their roles in the third world regions of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, despite disagreement by locals of their policies. Soviet third world policy focussed on reducing tensions caused by regional conflict and removing themselves from positions and policies causing this conflict. This was seen when the Soviet Union withdrew its presence from Afghanistan and lessened relations with Fidel Castro in Cuba. Free elections were even brought into practice in Cambodia, Ethiopia, and the Caribbean region as a result of the Soviet Union’s new policy of reducing tensions. The Ethiopian regime also began to negotiate with rebels and bargaining powers increased as a result of Soviet withdrawal from their affairs.

Another top priority of Gorbachev was to be accepted into the European community. Gorbachev gave up the Soviet Union’s control in Eastern Europe and accepted German unification to help gain European acceptance. The Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) dissolved as a military organization in 1991 leaving the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) as the only de facto security organization in Europe. The Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was the only organization that extended into Western Europe and plans had been made to transform the CSCE into a genuine organization. By the end of 1990, the CSCE had thirty-four members that signed the Treaty of Paris, which focussed on collective security with a stress on democracy. Many believe the treaty was an agreement ending the Cold War.

Soviet policies in Eastern Asia were altered mainly from a military presence to more political, economic, and diplomatic relations. The Soviet Union began increased relations in China, reconciliation with South Korea, and collaboration in deciding regional conflicts in the Indo-Chinese peninsula. East Asian countries like South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore were eager to expand trading outside of the United States and Canada. The Soviet Union eagerly accepted the invitation for relations and used their interaction to study each country’s economic successes. In an attempt to bring the Soviet Union into the Pacific Rim, Gorbachev increased relations South Korea. He felt that perhaps expanded relations would allow the Soviet Union an entrance into the trading organization. One obstacle remaining was with Japan, however, over their claim of four small islands north of Hokkaido.

The Soviet Union has seen a dramatic change in not only its foreign policy, but also its role in the international political sphere. Brezhnev lead the Soviet Union in expanding power abroad and achieving recognition as a global presence and power during his rule as General Secretary. The Soviet Union also became recognized as a superpower equal in status to that of the United States. When Gorbachev came into power, the Soviet Union’s policy outlook and structure was transformed, leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In less than two years, the Communist governments of Eastern Europe were swept from power and a bipolar international system was altered to a unitary system. Gorbachev altered the old economic system in the Soviet Union, yet failed to build a strong foundation for a new one to grow from. Critics say that perhaps democratization worked too well as the republics began to focus on their own course of direction rather than that of the collective union. During the ten-year period from 1981 to 1991, Marxism-Leninism was abandoned for democracy, the Soviet alliance system collapsed, Soviet-centric communism collapsed, and the USSR dissolved as a state structure, giving up its superpower status. The collapse of the Soviet Union not only affected the union itself, but also was the process that led to the disintegration of the international socio-political system.

"Soviet Leaders." http://artnet.net/~upstart/soviet.html