The article critiques recent research on the foreign policies of late 20th-century revolutionary movements, and attempts to identify some basic elements in the ideology and organization of these policies. The author finds the search for foreign great power allies to be a vital element in the foreign policy practice of revolutionaries, and seeks to analyze how Great Power interests and local revolutionary aspirations interplayed in different cases (China, Iran, Angola). In conclusion, the author looks at how the Cold War international system influenced the chances for revolutionary success, and finds that the character of the Soviet-American conflict in many countries enhanced the potential for revolution by making it impossible for established regimes to monopolize foreign support.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Behrooz, Maziar , 1990. `Trends in the Foreign Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979-1988', pp. 13-35 in Nikkie R. Keddie & Mark J. Gasiorowski, eds, Neither East Nor West: Iran, the Soviet Union, and the United States. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
2.
Belikov, Igor , 1991. `The Soviet Scholars' Debate on Socialist Orientation in the Third World', Millennium, vol. 20, no. 1, Spring, pp. 23-39.
3.
Bill, James A. , 1988. The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
4.
Chen Jian , 1991. `China and the First Indochina War, 1950-1954', unpublished paper.
5.
Chen Yung-fa , 1986. Making Revolution: The Communist Movement in Eastern and Central China, 1937-1945. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
6.
Domīnguez, Jorge I. , 1989. To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
Ellis, Stephen , 1991. `The ANC in Exile', African Affairs, vol. 90, no. 360, July, pp. 439-447.
8.
Fischer, Michael M. J. & Mehdi Abedi, 1990. Debating Muslims: Cultural Dialogues in Postmodernity and Tradition. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
9.
Gates, J. M. , 1986. `Toward a History of Revolution', Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 28, no. 3, July, pp. 535-544.
10.
Geertz, Clifford , 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
11.
Goldstone, Jack , 1980. `Theories of Revolution: The Third Generation', World Politics, vol. 32, no. 3, April, pp. 425-453.
12.
Goldstone, Jack , 1991. Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
13.
Goldstone, Jack ; Ted Robert Gurr & Farrokh Moshiri, eds, 1991. Revolutions of the Late Twentieth Century. Boulder, CO: Westview.
14.
Hao Yufan & Zhai Zhihai, 1990. `China's Decision to Enter the Korean War: History Revisited', China Quarterly, no. 121, March, pp. 94-115.
15.
He Di , 1989. `The Evolution of the Chinese Communist Party's Policy toward the United States', in Harry Harding & Yuan Ming, eds, Sino-American Relations, 1945-1955: A Joint Reassessment of a Critical Decade. Wilmington, DE: SR Books.
16.
Hunt, Michael H. , 1987. Ideology and US Foreign Policy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
17.
Hunt, Michael H. , 1991, `Internationalizing US Diplomatic History', Diplomatic History, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-11.
18.
Hunt, Michael & Steven I. Levine, 1990. `The Revolutionary Challenge to Early US Cold War Policy in Asia', pp. 12-34 in Warren I. Cohen & Akira Iriye, eds, The Great Powers in East Asia. New York: Columbia University Press.
19.
Immerman, Richard H. , 1990. `The History of U.S. Foreign Policy: A Plea for Pluralism', Diplomatic History, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 574-583.
20.
Joyaux, Francois , 1985. La nouvelle question d'Extrême Orient: l'ère de la guerre froide. Paris: Payot.
21.
Kamrava, Mehran , 1990. Revolution in Iran: The Roots of Turmoil. London: Routledge.
22.
Kaplan, Morton A. , 1957. Systems and Process in International Politics. New York: Wiley.
23.
Laïdi, Zaki , 1990. The Superpowers and Africa: The Constraints of a Rivalry, 1960-1990. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
24.
Lowenthal, Richard , 1977. Model or Ally? The Communist Powers and the Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
Lundestad, Geir , 1990. The American `Empire' and Other Studies of US Foreign Policy in a Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
26.
McCormick, Thomas J. , 1989. America's Half Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
27.
McMahon, Robert J. , 1990. `The Study of American Foreign Relations: National History or International History?', Diplomatic History, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 554-564.
28.
Morgenthau, Hans J. , 1948. Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. New York: Knopf.
29.
Nie Rongzhen , 1984. Nie Rongzhen huiyilu [The Memoirs of Nie Rongzhen]. Beijing: Jiefangjun.
30.
Pastor, Robert A. , 1987. Condemned to Repetition: The United States and Nicaragua. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
31.
Paterson, Thomas G. , 1990. `Defining and Doing the History of American Foreign Relations: A Primer', Diplomatic History, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 584-601.
32.
Payne, Anthony , 1990. `The Foreign Policy of the People's Revolutionary Government,” pp. 133-152 in Jorge Heine, ed., A Revolution Aborted: The Lessons of Grenada. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
33.
Pepper, Suzanne , 1978. Civil War in China: The Political Struggle, 1945-1949. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
34.
Rosenberg, Emily S. , 1990. `Walking the Borders', Diplomatic History, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 565-573.
35.
Roy, Olivier , 1989. `Afghanistan: vom ost-west-Kon-flikt zum Bürgerkrieg', Europa-Archiv, vol. 44, no. 20, pp. 619-626.
36.
Roy, Olivier , 1990. Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan. 2nd ed.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
Rubenstein, Alvin Z. , 1988. `Soviet Success Story: The Third World', Orbis, vol. 32, no. 4, Fall.
38.
Schama, Simon , 1989. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution. New York: Knopf.
39.
Shweder, Richard A. , 1991. Thinking Through Cultures: Expeditions in Cultural Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
40.
Sewell, Jr, William H. , 1985. `Ideologies and Social Revolutions: Reflections on the French Case', Journal of Modern History, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 57-85.
41.
Skocpol, Theda , 1985. `Cultural Idioms and Political Ideologies in the Revolutionary Reconstruction of State Power: A Rejoinder to Sewell', Journal of Modern History, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 86-96.
42.
Skocpol, Theda , 1988. `Social Revolutions and Mass Military Mobilization', World Politics, vol. 40, no. 2, January, pp. 147-168.
43.
Smith, Anthony D. , 1986. The Ethnic Origins of Nations. London: Blackwell.
44.
Sørensen, Georg , 1991. `A Revised Paradigm for International Relations: The “Old” Images and the Postmodernist Challenge', Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 85-116.
45.
Thorne, Christopher , 1990. `Diplomatic History, Some Further Reflections', Diplomatic History, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 602-605.
46.
Tilly, Charles , 1978. From Mobilization to Revolution. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
47.
Tilly, Charles , 1985. `War Making and State Making as Organized Crime', pp. 169-191 in Peter Evanset al., eds, Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
48.
Ton That Thien , 1989. The Foreign Politics of the Communist Party of Vietnam. New York: Crane Russak.
49.
Turley, William S. , 1986. The Second Indochina War. Boulder, CO: Westview.
50.
Tønnesson, Stein , 1991. The Vietnamese Revolution of 1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh and de Gaulle in a World at War. London: Sage.
51.
Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl , 1986. `Revolutionary Change in the Third World: Recent Soviet Assessments', World Politics, vol. 38, no. 3, April, pp. 415-434.
52.
Westad, Odd Arne , 1989. `Afghanistan: Perspectives on the Soviet War', Bulletin of Peace Proposals, vol. 20, no. 3, September, pp. 281-293.
53.
Westad, Odd Arne , 1993. Cold War and Revolution: Soviet-American Rivalry and the Origins of the Chinese Civil War, 1944-1946. New York: Columbia University Press, in press.
54.
White, Stephen , 1988. `Ideology and Soviet Politics', pp. 1-20 in Stephen White & Alex Pravda, eds, Ideology and Soviet Politics. London: Macmillan.
55.
Wu Xiuquan , 1984. Wo de licheng [My Experiences]. Beijing: Jiefangjun.
56.
Zhongyang tongzhanbu & Zhongyang dang'anguan, comps., 1988. Zhonggong zhongyang jiefang zhan-zheng shiqi tongyi zhanxian wenjian huibian [A Selection of Documents on the CCP Central Committee's United Front During the War of Liberation Period]. Limited circulation. Beijing: Dang'an.
