IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/intorg/v57y2003i01p77-109_57.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shortcut to Greatness: The New Thinking and the Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Larson, Deborah Welch
  • Shevchenko, Alexei

Abstract

Why did Soviet foreign policy change during 1985–1991 from viewing conflict between capitalism and socialism as inevitable to favoring cooperation between states in solving global problems? Neither materialist analyses nor ideational accounts explain why Gorbachev adopted the radical new thinking instead of more conventional reform alternatives. We argue that the new thinking offered a means to enhance Soviet status despite retrenchment and accommodation of the West. By promoting principles underlying a new world order, the Soviet Union could achieve greatness based on the exercise of soft power. This explanation draws on social identity theory, which maintains that people are motivated for their social group to have a distinctive, positive identity. Lower status groups may enhance their perceived standing by finding a new domain for comparison or reevaluating an undesirable trait.

Suggested Citation

  • Larson, Deborah Welch & Shevchenko, Alexei, 2003. "Shortcut to Greatness: The New Thinking and the Revolution in Soviet Foreign Policy," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 77-109, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:57:y:2003:i:01:p:77-109_57
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020818303571028/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ryan Kennedy, 2010. "Supranational identity, democratic attitudes, and political participation: The EU and Moldova," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(4), pages 511-532, December.
    2. J. Patrick Rhamey Jr & Bryan R. Early, 2013. "Going for the gold: Status-seeking behavior and Olympic performance," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 244-261, September.
    3. Corbetta Renato & Volgy Thomas J. & Rhamey J. Patrick, 2013. "Major Power Status (In)Consistency and Political Relevance in International Relations Studies," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(3), pages 291-307, December.
    4. Florent Frasson-Quenoz y otros., 2020. "Pensar, debatir y aportar a las Relaciones Internacionales," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Finanzas, Gobierno y Relaciones Internacionales, number 143, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:57:y:2003:i:01:p:77-109_57. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ino .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.