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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Moscow's retreat from Africa |
Author: | Light, M. |
Year: | 1992 |
Periodical: | The Journal of Communist Studies |
Volume: | 8 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 21-40 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Africa Soviet Union |
Subject: | foreign policy |
Abstract: | This study argues that there were four sets of reasons for the Soviet withdrawal from Africa. Two of them arose from lessons that were learnt before Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union. First, early in the process of decolonization there was some ambivalence in Moscow about relations with Africa and African socialism as a result of postindependence coups in countries like Ghana and Mali. As the costs of involvement in Africa rose, so did doubts about a Soviet role in Africa. Second, in the 1970s Soviet scholars and policymakers began to reevaluate the economic and political prospects of the poorest LDCs, and their disillusion made them reluctant to offer serious assistance to socialist-oriented States in Africa. The third reason for disengaging from Africa was the 'new political thinking', which recognized the cost to other aspects of Soviet international relations of Soviet policy in the Third World. Finally, 'perestroika', democratization and 'glasnost' in the Soviet Union itself affected policy in Africa. Before examining the four sets of reasons for Moscow's withdrawal from Africa, the author briefly considers how the Soviet Union became involved in the continent in the first place. Notes, ref., sum. |