The Changing Soviet Union and Western Security Policy

Between the first meeting for this project and the 1992 publication of the book, the Soviet Union collapsed. This created profound implications for the way Americans and the West thought about security policy. The earlier meetings brought together Soviet and U.S. scholars and security policy specialists to discuss changes in the Soviet Union, and the later session also invited specialists in Eastern European affairs. The resulting book focuses on the changes leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and their connections to Soviet and then Russian foreign and military policy. The book examines the dynamics of U.S.-Soviet interactions, the prospects for peace and stability in the new world, and the changed relevance of deterrence. According to the authors, the central task for American security policy is to encourage the growth of economic markets and political democracy in the part of the world previously dominated by Soviet power.