In this book, Marshall D. Shulman emphasizes that an analysis of Soviet foreign policy during the closing years of Stalin's life from the perspective of the present calls into question many common assumptions about the character of that policy.

In this book, Marshall D. Shulman emphasizes that an analysis of Soviet foreign policy during the closing years of Stalin's life from the perspective of the present calls into question many common assumptions about the character of that policy.

This is a study of Soviet policy in six West African countries: Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal. Robert Legvold analyzes the awakening of Soviet Interest in sub-Saharan Africa and the growth, problems, and influences of the Soviet involvement from Ghana's independence in 1957 to 1968.

Those nations are significant not only because they were the first African colonies to achieve independence and therefore have had the longest involvement with the Soviet Union, but also because together they supply illustrations of every problem that Black Africa poses for an outside nation's foreign policy: from hypersensitive nationalism to what has been called neo-colonial dependence; from relative long-term stability to fundamental instability; from military coups d'etat to civil war.

From the Soviet viewpoint the six countries range from the most progressive to the most reactionary. Each has had an interesting relationship with the Soviet Union.

The author considers several basic questions: How has the Soviet Union coped with the problems and opportunities created by Black Africa? How have its perceptions of Black Africa evolved during the first decade of its involvement there? Has policy shifted correspondingly with changes In these perceptions? Mr. Legvold explains why Black Africa lay largely ignored for years while Soviet leaders turned their attention to struggle and revolution in the Far East and South Asia. He has examined the Soviet and African press to trace the full evolution of Soviet attitudes and action in these countries, and has interviewed Soviet, African, and other officials. He compares Soviet policy as between one African nation and another, as well as between Africa and other continents.

Because the turbulent trajectory of Russia's foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union echoes previous moments of social and political transformation, history offers a special vantage point from which to judge the current course of events.

In this book, a mix of leading historians and political scientists examines the foreign policy of contemporary Russia over four centuries of history. The authors explain the impact of empire and its loss, the interweaving of domestic and foreign impulses, long-standing approaches to national security, and the effect of globalization over time.

Contributors focus on the underlying patterns that have marked Russian foreign policy and that persist today. These patterns are driven by the country's political makeup, geographical circumstances, economic strivings, unsettled position in the larger international setting, and, above all, its tortured effort to resolve issues of national identity. The argument here is not that the Russia of Putin and his successors must remain trapped by these historical patterns but that history allows for an assessment of how much or how little has changed in Russia's approach to the outside world and creates a foundation for identifying what must change if Russia is to evolve.

A truly unique collection, this volume utilizes history to shed crucial light on Russia's complex, occasionally inscrutable relationship with the world. In so doing, it raises the broader issue of the relationship of history to the study of contemporary foreign policy and how these two enterprises might be better joined.

The power struggles now underway in the fifteen successor republics raise the specter of chaos in Eastern Europe and Southern Asia. Can these new nations manage their deepening economic crisis? What political form will the new republics take, and can the changes be accomplished peacefully. What dangers and problems does the Soviet Union's passage present to the outside world?

This collection od original essays, sponsored by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University and the American Assembly, is the first comprehensive assessment of the challenges facing the Soviet Union's successor republics. In five concise chapters, leading American scholars of Soviet affairs examine the economics, politics, and foreign policy of the new nations. The future role of the Soviet military machine really another nation among the nations is also discussed. The authors' conclusions lend ground for a tempered optimism about the future of the former USSR."