The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict

by Zbigniew Brzeziński

When this book was first published in 1960, The New York Times commented: "[Mr.] Brzezinski...is uniquely qualified to sift the scattered and often seemingly contradictory data on this subject...the volume is marked by unusual insight, richness of information, and stimulating thought." Mr. Brzezinski, who is on leave from his post as Professor and Director of the Research Institute on Communist Affairs, Columbia University serving on State Department's Policy Planning Council, has revised and updated his important study wherever necessary and added three new chapters on recent developments. He gives particular attention to the Sino-Soviet dispute.

Genres: History, Political Science, Russia

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski was a Polish-American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Known for his hawkish foreign policy at a time when the Democratic Party was increasingly dovish, he is a foreign policy realist and considered by some to be the Democrats' response to Republican realist Henry Kissinger.

Major foreign policy events during his term of office included the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China (and the severing of ties with the Republic of China), the signing of the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II), the brokering of the Camp David Accords, the transition of Iran to an anti-Western Islamic state, encouraging reform in Eastern Europe, emphasizing human rights in U.S. foreign policy, the arming of the mujaheddin in Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet-friendly Afghan government, increase the probability of Soviet invasion and later entanglement in a Vietnam-style war, and later to counter the Soviet invasion, and the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties relinquishing U.S. control of the Panama Canal after 1999.

He was a professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a member of various boards and councils. He appeared frequently as an expert on the PBS program The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Reviews

[René · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cold War with the Soviet Bloc is now over (although the Russians do not seem to be aware of it...). However, this book, written by one who would become President Carter's National Security Advisor, does bring back to mind that it was really, despite others who may have wanted to think of it only in great powers terms, an ideological conflict, with those in power often sincerely believing that their justified end (equality for all) allowed any means to get there. It is powerfully written, with a clear thought from a thorough thinker.