Soviet Policy Perspect on Western Europe

127 Pages·2000·1.597 MB·English

by  Neil Malcolm

CHATHAM HOUSE PAPERS
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CHATHAM HOUSE PAPERS
General Series Editor: William Wallace
Soviet Foreign Policy Programme Director: Alex Pravda
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CHATHAM HOUSE PAPERS
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Neil Malcolm
The Royal Institute of International Affairs
Routledge
London
First published 1989
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Transferred to Digital Printing 2006
Reproduced from copy supplied by
Stephen Austin and Sons Ltd, Hertford.
© Royal Institute of International Affairs 1989
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Malcolm, Neil
Soviet policy perspectives on Western
Europe. - (Chatham House papers; ISSN 0143 - 5795)
1. Western Europe. Foreign relations with
Soviet Union 2. Soviet Union. Foreign
relations with Western Europe
I. Title II. Royal Institute of
International Affairs III. Series
327.4704
ISBN 0-415-03901-0
CONTENTS
Preface vii
2 Introduction 2
2 Internationalization and regional integration 14
3 Western Europe: a new centre of power? 20
(a) The origins and motive forces of West European integration -
(b) The consolidation of the West European centre - (c) Towards
an independent centre of power? - (d) Summary
4 Western Europe in East-West relations 35
(a) Western Europe as a force for detente - (b) Western Europe
as a loyal ally - (c) Western Europe: threats and opportunities -
(d) Summary
5 Gorbachev's European policy 56
(a) New thinking - (b) The approach to the alliance - (c) The
approach to Western Europe
6 Prospects for a 'Common European Home' 78
Notes 90
Soviet journal articles cited 113
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PREFACE
This study assesses the rationale and prospects for the USSR's
current European policy, taking into consideration patterns of
thinking about foreign affairs among the community of expert
advisers in Moscow. It is not assumed that there is a straightforward
correspondence between the calculations of the Kremlin's policy
makers and the contents of Soviet foreign affairs journals. Even less
is it implied that civilian specialists have a dominant influence-on
policy, although they have recently been enjoying a period in the
limelight. Nevertheless, Soviet expert writing on international affairs
provides valuable insights in a field in which other kinds of evidence
are in short supply.
The conclusion of the paper is that Gorbachev's policy towards
Western Europe arises logically from the new overall Soviet perspec
tive on international relations, which stresses bridge-building and
interdependence, rather than conflict and defensive isolationism. It
rests on a more multipolar vision of international relations, but also
on an acceptance of the strength and durability of established ties in
NATO and the European Community. The USSR is striving to
construct a special relationship between the two halves of Europe,
but it has no illusions that the deep-rooted special relationship
between Western Europe and North America is about to crumble. In
Moscow there is a new readiness to negotiate and a new realism
about what can be accomplished. Thus there is a window of
opportunity for the West, but many uncertainties remain to be
vii
Preface
resolved and obstacles overcome if a new European settlement is to
be achieved.
I must thank all those who have helped in this project by reading
drafts and offering suggestions for improvements, particularly Alex
Pravda, for his encouragement and valuable advice; also Edwina
Moreton, Margot Light, Jonathan Haslam, Roy Allison, Gennady
Kolosov and other members of the Chatham House study group;
and Hannes Adomeit and his colleagues at the Stiftung Wissenschaft
und Politik in Ebenhausen. Although their efforts have helped me
substantially in producing this study, I must of course bear full
responsibility for any shortcomings.
I am also grateful to Pauline Wickham and her colleagues in the
publications department at Chatham House, to fellow staff at
Wolverhampton Polytechnic, and to my family, principally for their
patience and forbearance.
The paper is published under the auspices of the Soviet foreign
policy programme funded by the ESRC (grant no. E 00 22 2011).
March 1989 N.M.
viii
1
INTRODUCTION
The rejuvenation of the USSR's foreign policy since 1985 poses a
whole series of challenges to its international partners. Changes have
occurred so rapidly and along so many different dimensions that it
has become even more difficult than usual to interpret Soviet
behaviour, or to form a conception of Moscow's underlying
strategy. A special puzzle is posed by the Soviet Union's new
European policy.
This aspect of policy has enjoyed maximum publicity right from
the start of the new General Secretary's term in office. Indeed, even
before his formal accession to power, Mikhail Gorbachev was
talking of the need to protect the 'Common European Home' from
the possible consequences of American plans for limited nuclear
war. In one of his first statements on foreign affairs after gaining
office, he remarked that although Soviet-American relations were
'an important factor in international affairs', 'we do not view the
world solely through the prism of these relationships. We under
stand the importance of other countries. 'IOn his first visit to the
West as General Secretary, in Paris in October 1985, Gorbachev
offered direct nuclear arms reduction talks to the British and French,
and held out the prospect of substantial cuts in Soviet intermediate
range missiles. Western Europe, he declared, was 'at the centre of
attention in Soviet policy'. The Soviet Union was prepared to
recognize and deal with the European Community as a political
entity, and to work towards 'overcoming Europe's divisions into
opposing groups in a more or less foreseeable future'.2
2