This is a study of Soviet military doctrine and capabilities, and their relation to Soviet foreign policy objectives and East-West relations during the Gorbachev period. The role of military power in Gorbachev's foreign policy and the dismantling of the military confrontation in Europe is examined.

In this text, a United States Army officer and scholar traces the rise and fall of the Soviet military, arguing that it had a far greater impact on Soviet politics and economic development than was perceived in the West. The author asserts that Gorbachev saw that shrinking the military and the military-industrial sector of the economy was essential for fully implementing perestroika and that his efforts to do this led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Odom enhances his account with interviews with key factors in the Soviet Union before, during and after the collapse. He describes the condition of the Soviet military during the mid-1980s and explains how it became what it was - its organizational structures, manpower policies, and military-industrial arrangements. He then moves to the events that led to its destruction, taking us to the most secret circles of Soviet policy making, as well as describing the public debates, factional struggles in the new parliament, and street combat as army units tried to repress the political forces unleashed by glasnost.

Many people have been instrumental in helping see this book through to completion. First, I want to thank Robbin Laird, not only for his professional encouragement over the years, but especially for his suggestion to do this book in the first place. Nor would this effort have been possible--or nearly as enjoyable-- without the support and friendship of Susan McEachern. I would also like to thank Jackie Evans for her assistance in helping to prepare the manuscript.

This book examines reform of the Russian military since the end of the Cold War. It explores the legacy of the Soviet era, explaining why - at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union - radical reform was long overdue in the wake of changing military technology, new economic and political realities, and the emergence of new threats and challenges. It discusses the problems encountered by Gorbachev in his attempts to promote military reform in the late 1980s, and goes on to analyse in detail the mixed fortunes of the policies of his successors, Yeltsin and Putin. It describes how the onset of war in Chechnya in 1994 provided clear evidence of the weaknesses of the Russian military in modern conflicts, and shows that although the Chechnya debacle did provide some impetus for reforms in the armed forces in 1997-98, the momentum was not continued under the Putin government. It argues that Putin’s policies of bolstering central control over all aspects of decision making has left untouched many key problems facing the Russian military, including infighting between different force structures, lack of transparency and independent scrutiny over defence spending, and absence of consensus on the main threats to Russia and optimum force posture. Moreover, it argues that in his attempts to concentrate all means of control to a corrupt and inefficient Kremlin bureaucracy, Putin has deprived himself of all alternative channels of independent scrutiny, control and oversight, thus exacerbating the problems that continue to plague the Russian military.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. It was an event of major historic and global dimensions, yet it took the entire world totally by suprise. In this book, the authors interview dozens of people who dealt with Soviet affairs in the 1980s, all of who admit to having been caught off guard.

Now fully updated, this widely respected text traces the lineage and development of Russian foreign policy with the insight that comes from historical perspective. The fifth edition incorporates new and fully updated coverage of issues including relations with the major powers and with other post-communist states, international security issues including arms control issues and grounds for sanctions and intervention, and domestic and regional issues related to natural resource politics, human rights, Islamism and terrorism.perspective. Chronologically organized chapters highlight the continuities of Russias behavior in the world since tsarist times as well as the major sources of change and variability over the revolutionary period, wartime alliances and cold war, dtente, the Soviet collapse, and the first post-communist decades. The fifth edition incorporates new and fully updated coverage of issues including relations with the major powers and with other post-communist states, international security issues including arms control issues and grounds for sanctions and intervention, and domestic and regional issues related to natural resource politics, human rights, Islamism and terrorism. New coauthor Vidya Nadkarni strengthens the books coverage of issues related to Asia. The basic framework used in the book is a modified realism that stresses the balance of power and the importance of national interest, and identifies several factors (both internal and external) that condition Russian policy. The interpretations are original and based on a mix of primary and secondary sources.