From the USSR to Russia on the Pacific

For Western powers, the end of the Cold War brought to the forefront the problems of the new international order and pressing domestic priorities. For the Soviet Union, 1991 was the year of complete disintegration. Before the Soviet Union broke apart, its authorities and institutions brought the country to the brink of catastrophe. The situation is akin to defeat in a protracted war. Only in a few ways is it different from the situation of Japan and Germany in 1945: (1) the end of the Cold War and subsequent internal disintegration came almost without destruction and violence; (2) the enormous stocks of weaponry, including 27,000 nuclear warheads, are still there; (3) there is no occupation of the territory by foreign powers; and (4) therefore, the responsibility for decisions lies primarily with the domestic political leadership which is formally independent, but clearly unable to overcome accumulated dif ficulties without large-scale external economic support. Contrary to the isolationist ideas the Soviet political leadership had immediately after 1945, the predominant trend in Soviet and Russian foreign policy formula tions in 1991 was integration into the world economy, including its Asia-Pacific sector, and the international community. But the world economy and the structure of international relations and institutions are today so different and so much more complex than those of the post-World War II period that it will take time, considerable domestic efforts, bold foreign policy initiatives and external assistance for Russia to secure a decent place in the emerging post-Cold War world

Political science · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs