Traders, Crusaders, and Cruise Missiles: Soviet Foreign Policy toward the Low Countries

Abstract

In Soviet foreign policy, the Low Countries—Belgium and the Netherlands—seem to occupy a position symbolized by their name. Yet, in the past decade, Soviet diplomacy has scored a number of successes: by 1985 the cohesion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization seemed threatened by the recurrent non-decision-making of Belgian and Dutch governments on the issue of intermediate-range nuclear forces; in Belgium the Soviets have succeeded in establishing a valuable Soviet-controlled infrastructure; and the Dutch position on the European gas market is undercut by Siberian gas. These benefits have been reached at minimal cost to the USSR. This discrepancy calls for an explanation that goes beyond simple formulas and delves into Dutch and Belgian political cultures, in which neutralism and Atlanticism are constant but uneasy bedfellows.