Once a pariah denied diplomatic recognition by most countries, the Soviet Union had 'official relations' with the majority of the nations of the world by the late 1980s. The Soviet Union also had progressed from being an outsider in international organizations and negotiations to being one of the arbiters of Europe's fate after World War II. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the USSR became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions (see Soviet Union and the United Nations). The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ... The word veto comes from Latin and literally means I forbid. ... The Soviet Union took an active role in the United Nations and other major international and regional organizations. ...

Ideology and objectives of Soviet foreign policy

According to Soviet theorists, the basic character of Soviet foreign policy was set forth in Vladimir I. Lenin's Decree on Peace, adopted by the Second Congress of Soviets in November 1917. It set forth the dual nature of Soviet foreign policy, which encompasses both proletarian internationalism and peaceful coexistence. On the one hand, proletarian internationalism refers to the common cause of the working classes of all countries in struggling to overthrow the bourgeoisie and to establish communist regimes. Peaceful coexistence, on the other hand, refers to measures to ensure relatively peaceful government-to-government relations with capitalist states. Both policies can be pursued simultaneously: "Peaceful coexistence does not rule out but presupposes determined opposition to imperialist aggression and support for peoples defending their revolutionary gains or fighting foreign oppression."^[1] The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... Bourgeoisie (RP [], GA []) in modern use refers to the ruling class in a capitalist society. ...

The Soviet commitment in practice to proletarian internationalism declined since the founding of the Soviet state, although this component of ideology still had some effect on later formulation and execution of Soviet foreign policy. Although pragmatic raisons d'état undoubtedly accounted for much of more recent Soviet foreign policy, the ideology of class struggle still played a role in providing a worldview and certain loose guidelines for action in the 1980s. Marxist-Leninist ideology reinforces other characteristics of political culture that create an attitude of competition and conflict with other states.^[1] Class struggle is class conflict looked at from a Marxist, libertarian socialist, or anarchist perspective. ...

The general foreign policy goals of the Soviet Union were formalized in a party program ratified by delegates to the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress in February-March 1986. According to the program, "the main goals and guidelines of the CPSU's international policy" included ensuring favorable external conditions conducive to building communism in the Soviet Union; eliminating the threat of world war; disarmament; strengthening the "world socialist system"; developing "equal and friendly" relations with "liberated" [Third World] countries; peaceful coexistence with the capitalist countries; and solidarity with communist and revolutionary-democratic parties, the international workers' movement, and national liberation struggles.^[1] Disarmament means the act of reducing or depriving arms i. ...

Although these general foreign policy goals were apparently conceived in terms of priorities, the emphasis and ranking of the priorities have changed over time in response to domestic and international stimuli. After Gorbachev assumed power in 1985, for instance, some Western analysts discerned in the ranking of priorities a possible de-emphasis of Soviet support for national liberation movements. Although the emphasis and ranking of priorities were subject to change, two basic goals of Soviet foreign policy remained constant: national security (safeguarding CPSU rule through internal control and the maintenance of adequate military forces) and, since the late 1940s, influence over Eastern Europe.^[1] Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ; Pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHOFF) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ...

Many Western analysts have examined the way Soviet behavior in various regions and countries supports the general goals of Soviet foreign policy. These analysts have assessed Soviet behavior in the 1970s and 1980s as placing primary emphasis on relations with the United States, which was considered the foremost threat to the national security of the Soviet Union. Second priority was given to relations with Eastern Europe (the European members of the Warsaw Pact) and Western Europe (the European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization--NATO). Third priority was given to the littoral or propinquitous states along the southern border of the Soviet Union: Turkey (a NATO member), Iran, Afghanistan, People's Republic of China, Mongolia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and Japan. Regions near to, but not bordering, the Soviet Union were assigned fourth priority. These included the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Last priority was given to sub-Saharan Africa, the islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, and Latin America, except insofar as these regions either provided opportunities for strategic basing or bordered on strategic naval straits or sea lanes. In general, Soviet foreign policy was most concerned with superpower relations (and, more broadly, relations between the members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact), but during the 1980s Soviet leaders pursued improved relations with all regions of the world as part of its foreign policy objectives.^[1] Eastern Europe is the eastern region of Europe variably defined. ... Unofficial Seal of the Warsaw Pact Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement among airlines about financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... A common understanding of Western Europe in modern times. ... NATO 2002 Summit The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on April 4, 1949. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent. ...

The aftermath of World War II

The Soviet Union emerged from World War II as one of the two major world powers, a position maintained for four decades through its hegemony in Eastern Europe (see Eastern Bloc), military strength, aid to developing countries and scientific research especially into space technology and weaponry. The Union's effort to extend its influence or control over many states and peoples resulted in the formation of a world socialist system of states. Established in 1949 as an economic bloc of communist countries led by Moscow, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) served as a framework for cooperation among the planned economies of the Soviet Union, its allies in Eastern Europe and, later, Soviet allies in the Third World. The military counterpart to the Comecon was the Warsaw Pact. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... A map of the Eastern Bloc. ... A Soviet propaganda poster reading COMECON: Unity of Goals, Unity of Action The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON / Comecon / CMEA / CEMA), 1949 – 1991, was an economic organisation of communist states and a kind of Eastern European equivalent to the European Economic Community. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... Unofficial Seal of the Warsaw Pact Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement among airlines about financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ...

Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone for the forward defense of its western borders and ensured its control of the region by transforming the East European countries into subservient allies. Soviet troops crushed a popular uprising and rebellion in Budapest, Hungary in 1956 and ended insubordination by the Czechoslovak government in 1968. In addition to military occupation and intervention, the Soviet Union controlled Eastern European states through its ability to supply or withhold vital natural resources. Nickname: Paris of the East, Pearl of the Danubeor Queen of the Danube Location of Budapest in Hungary Country Hungary County Pest Mayor Gábor Demszky (SZDSZ) Area    - City 525,16 km²  - Land n/a km²  - Water n/a km² Population    - City (2006) 1,695,000  - Density 3570/km... Warning: Value not specified for common_name Motto: Czech: Pravda vítÄ›zí (Truth prevails; 1918-1989) Latin: Veritas Vincit (Truth prevails; 1989-1992) Anthem: Kde domov můj and Nad Tatrou sa blýska Capital Prague Language(s) Czech, Slovak Government Republic President  - 1918-1935 Tomáš Masaryk  - 1989-1992 V...

The KGB ("Committee for State Security"), the bureau responsible foreign espionage and internal surveillance, was famous for its effectiveness. A massive network of informants throughout the Soviet Union was used to monitor dissent from official Soviet politics and morals. The foreign wing of the KGB was used to influence politics in countries around the globe, the United States being no exception. The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ...

The 1970's onwards

In the 1970s, the Soviet Union achieved rough nuclear parity with the United States, and surpassed it by the end of that decade with the deployment of the SS-18 missile. It perceived its own involvement as essential to the solution of any major international problem. Meanwhile, the Cold War gave way to Détente and a more complicated pattern of international relations in which the world was no longer clearly split into two clearly opposed blocs. Less powerful countries had more room to assert their independence, and the two superpowers were partially able to recognize their common interest in trying to check the further spread and proliferation of nuclear weapons (see SALT I, SALT II, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty). The R-36M/SS-18- DIA designation, (NATO reporting name Satan) is a massive ICBM capable of a +6000 nm (6600 mi, 10,600 km) flight, and the delivery of ten 0. ... For other uses, please see Cold War (disambiguation). ... // The Third World and nonalignment in the 1960s and 1970s Decolonization The economic needs of the Third World states made them vulnerable to foreign influences and pressures. ... SALT I is the common name for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. ... nSALT II was a second round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks from 1972-1979 between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons. ... The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM treaty or ABMT) was a treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons. ...

Leonid Brezhnev meets with Gerald Ford in Vladivostok on November 1974 to sign a joint communiqué on the SALT treaty.

Elsewhere the Soviet Union had concluded friendship and cooperation treaties with a number of states in the non-communist world, especially among Third World and Non-Aligned Movement states. Notwithstanding some ideological obstacles, Moscow advanced state interests by gaining military footholds in strategically important areas throughout the Third World. Furthermore, the USSR continued to provide military aid for revolutionary movements in the Third World. For all these reasons, Soviet foreign policy was of major importance to the non-communist world and helped determine the tenor of international relations. Image File history File links A2092-3A.jpg Summary Photograph of Gerald Ford signing accord with Soviet leader Leonid Brehznev, from National Archives. ... Image File history File links A2092-3A.jpg Summary Photograph of Gerald Ford signing accord with Soviet leader Leonid Brehznev, from National Archives. ... Communiqu is the second album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1979 (see 1979 in music). ... The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks refers to two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties between the Soviet Union and United States, the Cold War superpowers, on the issue of armament control. ... Member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (2005). ...

Although myriad bureaucracies were involved in the formation and execution of Soviet foreign policy, the major policy guidelines were determined by the Politburo of the Communist Party. The foremost objectives of Soviet foreign policy had been the maintenance and enhancement of national security and the maintenance of hegemony over Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States and Western Europe were also of major concern to Soviet foreign policy makers and, much as with the United States, relations with individual Third World states were at least partly determined by the proximity of each state to the border and to estimates of strategic significance. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = &#1050...

Gorbachev and after

When Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, it signalled a dramatic change in Soviet foreign policy. Gorbachev pursued conciliatory policies toward the West instead of maintaining the Cold War status quo. The USSR ended its military occupation of Afghanistan, signed strategic arms reduction treaties with the United States, and allowed its satellite states in Eastern Europe to determine their own affairs. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov ( , Mihail Sergeevič Gorbačëv, IPA: , commonly written as Mikhail Gorbachev; born March 2, 1931) was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Russian: ; September 24, 1911 – March 10, 1985) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU who led the Soviet Union from February 13, 1984 until his death just thirteen months later. ...

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia claimed to be the legal successor to the Soviet Union on the international stage despite its loss of superpower status. Russian foreign policy repudiated Marxism-Leninism as a guide to action, soliciting Western support for capitalist reforms in post-Soviet Russia.

See also

• Collapse_of_the_Soviet_Union
• Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR
• History of the Soviet Union
• Sino-Soviet split
• Japanese-Soviet relations
• Cuban-Soviet relations

The rise of Gorbachev Although reform stalled between 1964–1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. ... The USSR was established on December 30, 1922 and existed until December 26, 1991. ... The History of the Soviet Union begins with the Russian Revolution of 1917 in an effort to implement socialism, eventually leading to communism by Vladimir Lenin on a large scale, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 when its central government was dissolved. ... The Sino-Soviet split was a major diplomatic conflict between the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), beginning in the late 1950s, reaching a peak in 1969 and continuing in various ways until the late 1980s. ... After World War II, relations between the Soviet Union and Japan were tense. ... Following the establishment of diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet markets and military and economic aid becoming an ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold war. ...

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Text used in this cited section originally came from: Chapter 10 of the Soviet Union Country Study from the Library of Congress Country Studies project.

The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress ( USA), freely available for use by researchers. ...

Reference

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. - Soviet Union

The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress ( USA), freely available for use by researchers. ... The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789 by a constitutional convention, sets down the basic framework of American government in its seven articles. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External link

• The Kremlin's Envoy, Who Rejected the Iranian Revolution