The logic of faith: Ideas, interests and the Soviet experience in world politics

This dissertation looks afresh at the role of ideology in Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War, and develops a concept of ideational agency to analyze the role of ideas in politics.; In Part One I show that, despite its growing interest in the role of ideas, contemporary political science typically treats ideas in marginal, derivative or functional terms. Analysis reveals this to be an inevitable consequence of the interest-based microfoundations of the discipline. The study of ideas as autonomous, systematic and significant influences on behavior requires a broader conception of political agency that incorporates the pursuit of values and beliefs as well as security and welfare. Political behavior should be understood in terms of the interactions between these distinct sources of behavior. I identify a range of outcomes of such interaction, and propose hypotheses about the factors that will influence the mix of outcomes in a given case.; In Part Two I analyze the formation of Soviet foreign-policy doctrine and behavior from Stalin to Gorbachev. Drawing on new primary sources, I show the enduring, though evolving, influence of Marxism-Leninism on their world-view. Drawing on the theory of Part 1, I show that each leader sought to manage and resolve the tensions between inner values and external constraints by reinterpreting this ideological tradition in the light of the changing circumstances of relative power and the evolving international system. The meaning of these values changed over time, but always provided a distinctive way of looking at the world not reducible to the pursuit of national interests. Particularly notable is the periodic resurgence of ideological enthusiasm, even idealism, that contrasts with the prevailing assumption of secular decline.; I show that my ideational approach offers a systematically better explanation of observed behavior than orthodox interest-based and rational-choice interpretations. The outcome is a new history of Soviet foreign policy that has implications for the study of the communist systems, the Cold War, and international history.