Gorbachev's Foreign Policy - Essay Example

Gorbachev Foreign Policy Gorbachev Foreign Policy The Soviet Union’s foreign policy, which many people argue led to its demise, was put forward by Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. He was a statesman who was the eighth leader of the Soviet Union. The policy was constructed and implemented during the cold war period following the Second World War. This was mainly due to the growing American influence and the effect brought about by the famous Regan doctrine. The doctrine brought about by president Ronald Regan of the United States of America was meant to help European countries that are against the socialist Soviet Union. It was dubbed to have a clever strategy of peace through strength. This basically meant that the United States would offer financial and logistical aid to any European country that went against Russia’s communist policies. The policy also meant that the United States would take stern action against the communist and socialist states, not putting out the option of military action against them. Many of these states were allied to the Soviet Union and this policy was threatening to Russia to say the least (Bialer & Mandelbaum 1988). America openly funded and trained militia in some of Russia’s strong holds such as Afghanistan and Poland. Commodities of the Soviet Union were also downgraded and this shrunk her economy. The United States was also actively involved in ensuring that Russia’s technological advancements were limited. The Soviet Union had to act fast, she had to react to save her policies and member states of the Soviet Union, to defend the soviet’s position as a super power (Bialer & Mandelbaum 1988). Gorbachev was elected to become the secretary general for the communist party on March 11, 1985. He had no idea he would be the last secretary general for the communist party. He was a visionary man in a time when the communist party needed leadership to deal with America’s rapidly growing popularity among their fellow communist states. With Gorbachev the party took a different approach to their international approaches, he was a man who looked to change the common traditional approach to a new foreign policy that will stand for what the soviet union stood for. He frequently spoke in political rallies and party meetings on how the soviet states should change their approach of old and buy into his idea of a foreign policy (Grachev 2013). The soviet leader was set to make sure that the policy was implemented to the fullest and nothing would stand in his way. To show that he meant what he says he shook up the administration that in turn shook the country. He reshuffled the country’s national security leadership, bringing in young tucks that were ready to take a less strict stand. This allowed him to have a close control of the security sector in Russia and more importantly in the Soviet Union which entailed most of east and central Europe. This now meant that Gorbachev could implement his ideologies through his selected group of leaders. He did not waste any time doing this, their first move was to launch an offensive called the “charm offensive”. This new look administration also introduced a wide array of foreign policies that included firearms control and proposals of other offensives and military upgrade (Grachev 2013). The “new thinking” policy that Gorbachev introduced was looked at as a genius stroke in the canvas of progressing the Soviet Union (Mankoff 2013). He looked away from the Marxist ideologies that set out clear differences between socialism and communism separating. He then focused on building political influence over noncommunist states which turned out to be a good move also. He used enormous funds travelling and offering aid to many countries to gain their influence. He made use of shared moral and ethnic ideas that exist between communism and capitalism to help solve problems facing his neighbors and the world as a whole. He focused less on improving and showcasing the Soviet Union’s military prowess but more on his new thinking game plan. He reduced the soviet’s hold on eastern European countries and appeasing the west’s ideas. This move gained the Soviet Union a lot of influence with the eastern European countries that changed their view of Russia from oppressor to a friend. However, many people term this move as juvenile and the real reason why the Soviet Union collapsed. While these allegations might be true, one cannot blame the demise of the Soviet Union on a solitary cause (Kanet, Miner and Lesler 1992). Under Gorbachev, relations with the United States greatly improved, the efforts that he incorporated were clearly paying off. The world was relieved to see the two spearhead the two most powerful countries for the first time in six years in Geneva. The meeting between Gorbachev and Regan did not yield any significant results but served as a stepping stone for future meetings between the two and relieving stress built up between the two countries. It was seen as a positive step in ending the long lasting foiled relations, headed by two visionary leaders who saw no further need to further the conflict, they were prepared to take an initiative and make a compromise. The second meeting took place in October 1986 where the two held another meeting to discuss the strategic reduction of arms in the Reykjavik region. This meeting did not yield any fruits and tensions seemed to escalate further, but this was not the case as in 1987 the Russian government conceded to the request of the Regan administration. This was followed by the signing of the intermediate and shorter range nuclear force treaty in Washington DC in the United States. This was due to Russia’s active production of these intermediate and shorter range nuclear missiles. This led to dismantling of all the nuclear warheads in east and central Europe to over a short period of time. Further talks between the two continued as they seemed to relieve tension caused by the Soviet’s involvement in Afghanistan. In April 1988, Russia and the United States of America through Gorbachev and Regan were involved as guarantors in an accord that was signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan. This treaty meant that Russia had to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan before a set time limit. Russia was keen on keeping its words and moved swiftly to ensure that they met every single deadline. This marked the end of Russia’s active involvement in Afghanistan and a step in the right direction to ending the cold war (Smith, Hadfield and Dunne, 2013). During the 1950’s, Russia’s Sino-soviet alliance was broken. Relations between the Sino states and Russia had since soared to a point of mistrust and suspicion of military attack. Countries like china did not support decisions that Russia was making and this furthered bad blood. Gorbachev’s new thoughts meant that he had to improve relations with the Sino states and not with the United States only. He had a lot of diplomatic work to do if Russia was to win the conviction and influence of the Sino states. China had demanded that Russia stops amassing troops along their shared border and to withdraw from Afghanistan. The head of the Sino states, the Chinese government agreed to meet Gorbachev in Russia to discuss this along with many other issues that troubled the Sino states. Gorbachev’s actions and the need to resolve the issues at hand increased the Sino states trust in Russia and international relations took a turn for the better (Smith, Hadfield and Dunne 2013). Gorbachev insisted that every country had to have a sovereign right to have their own social system even if it meant going against the wishes of mother Russia. He insisted on this at a time when Russia was quickly losing grip on the inner circle of countries in the communist union. This was to signify that his administration was against the oppressive laws implemented by the soviet government on east and central European countries. These laws served to impose Russia’s social systems to the conquered states. The Czech Republic is an excellent example, since its conquest in 1968, the Soviet Union imposed the Brezhnev doctrine. This doctrine which was still in use at the time when Gorbachev was in power, but with a speech in which he declared that each state had a sovereign right to choose their own social system he effectively kicked the policy out. In this respect he earns Russia the trust of many east and central European countries that were previously oppressed. He realized that he had to win the influence of the Sino states since the support of the Sino states as well as the countries in the union were important to Russia, just as important as good relations with the United States were (Smith, Hadfield and Dunne 2013). Toward the end of 1989, many European states were in open revolt against Russia. They opted for the capitalist way of life. Countries like Poland and East Germany were among the obvious members who started showing cracks in the Soviet Union. In that year Poland held elections and no communist was elected to any post, this coupled with Hungary bringing down its “wall” against Austria, and many East Germans fleeing to nearby West Germany, due to what was termed as a hole in the iron curtain. This made many East Germans flee to seek for a better and control free life in Prague. According to the international media, the collaboration between America and the rest of Europe looked like the start of the eventual demise of the Soviet Union. The fault lines in the Soviet Union continued to manifest openly. The failure of Gorbachev to hold the states together was evident and Russia did not do anything to prevent this from happening. They had taken such a soft approach that acting otherwise would cause an international outburst that Gorbachev’s administration could not handle. He had disbanded many military prowess that was holding the Soviet Union together leaving the members free to do as they wished. Duing that time, East Germany was suffering a major crisis, many of their citizens had fled to West Germany and those that remained continuously held protest against the oppressive communist regime. The government had no choice but to take down the wall of berlin and restore order in November 1989. In Bulgaria, the communist government was overthrown and the Todor Ahivkov regime of the communist came to a halt. At the same time, Russia lost influence over Bulgaria. The Soviet Union was burning down quickly and the Russian government was hand tied, the Ronald Regan plan was working perfectly, and the velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia quickly followed with all the communist leaders being overthrown. The final blow came in December 1989 when during a summit meeting in Malta with president H.W. Bush of the united states of America Gorbachev found himself declaring an end to the cold war. The United States had obviously won, right under the nose of the once dubbed visionary Gorbachev. This was a happy moment for many east and central Europeans who were once oppressed by Russia’s might (Kubalkova 2013). After the announcement, the cold war institutions established after the world war were all dismantled. The economic policy was changed in many countries and any economic ties to Russia were all cut off. Russia was forced to withdraw all its troops from the now sovereign states of east and central Europe, this was done under the watchful eye of the international community who as discussed were waiting to see if Gorbachev’s regime is different from the last one. He did not disappoint and in the early 1990’s since all Russia’s troops were in Russian soil. Gorbachev was forced to sign a treaty that allowed East and West Germany to merge and Germany would be a member of NATO (Kubalkova 2013). The once soured relations with the United States had tremendously improved and Gorbachev termed it as a partnership that yielded many fruits. The partnership showed its strength when they collaborated against Sadam Hussein and Iraq against their invasion of Kuwait. Later on the conventional forces in Europe treaty was signed, this reduced the amount of arms a country could have, it also forced all the countries involved to declare their military prowess (Mankoff 2013). In conclusion, it is clear that Gorbachev’s foreign policies had a tremendous effect on East and Central Europe. They also greatly improved relations with the United States and the Sino states. Though most of these were beneficial to many Soviet citizens, it had a disastrous effect on the Soviet Union this was mainly due to the fact that his foreign policies led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The whole idea loosened Russia’s grip on the soviet states since it changed the way the East and central Europe dealt with the west. The relaxed approach led to the unification of east and west Europe with their ideology of communism losing a lot of popularity very fast. This led to countless rebellions and overthrowing of the communist governments in member states. Gorbachev improved relations with a lot of countries including South Korea, Arabia and Israel. This boosted the Russian economy tremendously and gained him much admiration in Europe and worldwide. He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1990 for his time, effort and success in the reduction of superpower tension around the globe. His foreign policy had mixed results but as always there was a compromise to be made. Losing the Soviet Union was devastating to Russia, but making peace with the United States was paramount and a worthwhile prize to any cost incurred. Gorbachev changed history and shaped the future for many Russians. However, he does not receive enough credit for his efforts in evading a world war and ending the Afghanistan offensive but remains to be the most celebrated soviet leader on history. Bibliography Bialer, S., & Mandelbaum, M. (1988). Gorbachevs Russia and American foreign policy. Boulder: Westview Press. Grachev, A. (2013). Gorbachevs Gamble Soviet Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War. Oxford: Wiley. Kanet, R. E., Miner, D. N., & Resler, T. J. (1992). Soviet foreign in transition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Smith, S., Hadfield, A., & Dunne, T. (2007). Foreign policy: theories actor’s cases. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kubalkova, V. (2001). Foreign policy in a constructed world. Armonk. N.Y., M.E. Sharpe. Mankoff, J. (2013). Russias foreign policy: change and continuity in national identity. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Read More