Soviet Academic Theories on International Conflict and Negotiation

The influence of Soviet international relations scholars on Soviet foreign policy has grown markedly in recent years. The ideas about international conflict and cooperation that Mikhail Gorbachev has expressed in his writings and speeches reflect the views of those scholars, and as individuals they have been drawn directly into the policy-making process. This article summarizes the emerging Soviet academic consensus about the need for joint, peaceful solutions to international environmental and security problems, and then discusses five particularly interesting theoretical approaches taken by subgroups of Soviet scholars to the problem of international conflict resolution. The author concludes that, while debates over specific theoretical approaches and state policies continue among Soviet scholars, they have adopted a new common framework for analyzing international conflict and cooperation; the old framework of class struggle has been replaced by a worldview that recognizes the importance of shared interests.