Robert English

The Sociology of New Thinking: Elites, Identity Change, and the End of the Cold War

This article recounts the origins of Soviet new thinking as a case study of how Soviet intellectuals sought to redefine national identity in response to the West. It demonstrates that new thinking was fundamentally normative, not instrumental, insofar as it was developed in a period (1950s1960s) when socialism was thought to be materially outperforming capitalism. It also demonstrates that new thinking decisively affected Soviet policy in the second half of the 1980s. Putting forth a socialization argument to show how newthinking ideas originated in the post-Stalin period within a community of intellectuals, the article charts the growing influence of these intellectuals through the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, when Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party and empowered many of the new thinkers as advisers, their liberal, Westernizing ideas played an indispensable role in shaping his reforms. The analysis focuses on mechanisms of identity change at two levels: that of the community of reformist intellectuals, and that of the Soviet Union itself. The analysis challenges realist and rationalist views that new thinking was largely instrumental. Until the Gorbachev era, Soviet reformers advocated new-thinking ideas often at the risk of their personal, professional, and institutional interests.

The other side : how Soviets and Americans perceive each other

What do Soviets think of Americans? What do they learn from books, newspapers, and films about life in America? How do we, as Americans form opinions about life in the U.S.S.R? Through the selective use of both Soviet and American materials, The Other Side explores these and other provocative questions that are central to public understanding of how perceptions affect U.S.-Soviet relations. The Other Side also examines the many differences between Soviet and American media, such as the role of the press, and offers article-by-article comparisons of Soviet and American press coverage of the same events. Appropriate for citizen of all ages, and groups as well as individuals, The Other Side includes a Readers Guide, suggested educational projects, an annotated bibliography, and guidance for discussion leaders.

Ned Lebow on the Cold War’s End, and Aftermath

The controversy surrounding what many describe as a new Cold War with Russia—namely, the crisis currently unfolding in Ukraine—is a fitting context for reflection upon Ned Lebow’s contributions to understanding the ending of the last Cold War. By this I mean less his pioneering writings on deterrence, confrontation, and escalation, though these insights too would be welcome in today’s policy debates and punditry dominated by simplistic and superficial arguments (Lebow 1981; Lebow/Gross Stein 1995). Rather I mean Lebow’s rigorous, judicious, and historically informed analyses of how the Cold War’s end came as such a surprise, why our theories failed us, and what new methodological and empirical insights suggest for both better understanding of dramatic change in international relations and for better policy-making in its aftermath. Lebow’s early writings in each of these areas—IR theory and the Cold War’s end, the sources of US-Soviet accommodation, and lessons for US and Western policy going forward—were signal contributions of enduring salutary merit.