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| Author: | Spechler, D.R. Spechler, M.C. |
| Title: | A reassessment of the burden of Eastern Europe on the USSR |
| Journal: | Europe-Asia Studies
2009 : NOV, VOL. 61:9, p. 1645-1657 |
| Index terms: | eastern europe CIS policy strategy |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | An accounting of the contribution and costs of East European satellite states to Soviet foreign and defence policy indicates that they were hardly a burden to the USSR. These were at their most costly in 1982. Influential Soviet leaders thought the relationship with East European regimes was worth the cost. Gorbachev's decisions later in the decade allow those regimes to distance themselves from Moscow. This can be interpreted as part of the Soviet leader's overall political strategy, not a result of material inability to maintain the status quo. The calculations presented in this paper suggest the need to qualify the realist position regarding the collapse of the Soviet empire. |
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