The demise of the world revolutionary process: Soviet‐Angolan relations under Gorbachev

Abstract

Ironically, Brezhnev's observation still holds true today. However, the transformative power of the international communist movement has resulted not from its consolidation, as Brezhnev surmised, but from its disintegration. The 'world revolutionary process' predicted by Marx, initiated by Lenin, and promoted for seventy years by the Soviet Union has come to an abrupt halt. Whether temporary or permanent, its present demise has created one of the most fluid historical moments of the twentieth century. This paper seeks to assess the impact of this world-wide phenomenon on southern Africa by analyzing one of its dimensions — Soviet relations with Angola. The paper addresses two central questions. To what extent have Soviet conceptual and organizational changes in foreign policy affected Soviet policy towards Angola? How has this new Soviet policy influenced developments in Angola and southern Africa more generally? The analysis is divided into four sections. The first section outlines recent 'restructuring' within and between those institutions which formulate and execute Soviet foreign policy towards Angola. The second section describes and explains the conceptual and concrete changes in Soviet foreign policy regarding states of socialist orientation which affect Angola. The third section discusses another revised concept in Soviet foreign policy — 'new thinking' about regional security — and its impact on Soviet-Angolan relations. The final section concludes with an