The Soviet Union and its rival self

TLDR: For decades, the process of competition has been conducted without opening up Soviet society or its economy to any great extent to international life as discussed by the authors, and internal constraints have had but a feeble influence on foreign policy.

Abstract: Like the Russia of the tsars, the USSR locates its identity in opposition to the West. The dynamic of Soviet foreign policy lies in a competition, even if peaceful, against a Western rival that is at one and the same time enemy and model. For decades, the process of competition has been conducted without opening up Soviet society or its economy lo any great extent to international life. At the same time, internal constraints have had but a feeble influence on foreign policy. Analytical schemes that are founded on the hypothesis of an ultimate objective of the Soviet regime, be it revolutionary or state expansionism, now reveal their inadequacy. But the interpretation around the concept of convergence with Western societies is not more convincing. The Gorbachev experience certainly affects the traditional approach to Russia's relations with the outside world and confronts the Soviet system with increasing challenges, both at home and in power relations. The search of a new identity, freed of old communist ...