The Impact of Gorbachevshchina on United States Foreign Policy

Abstract

My topic concerns the impact of Gorbachev and Gorbachevism on American foreign policy. I am not a narrow constructionist, and certainly not a deconstructionist, so I interpret my instructions to encompass not only American but Western foreign policy as a whole. The United States cannot have a foreign policy, especially towards the Soviet Union, except in association with its allies and associates in NATO, in Asia and in the Middle East. Moreover, I interpret my instructions as well to include not only what the impact of Gorbachevshchina on Western foreign policy has been, but what it should be.