The Reagan Administration's Policy Towards The Soviet Union(1985-1989)

The complete détente of the U.S.and the Soviet Union,the drastic changes in East Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union are quite the major events that have taken place successively in the late 20~thh century.A great deal of research has been done on this issue both domestically and internationally,the accidental disintegration of the Soviet Union,however,has always drawn the most attention.Based on the absorption of research results mentioned above and in the context of the Soviet Union's domestic affairs especially its diplomacy in the late 1980s,this paper examines the Reagan Administration's policies and the influence these policies exert towards and on the Soviet Union and strives to make them more objective and comprehensive.On the basis of sorting out the declassified diplomatic archives of the U.S.,this thesis first summarizes the overall strategy towards the Soviet Union,that is the“four-part agenda”which is formulated by the Reagan Administration in the second term in response to Gorbachev's"reform"and"new thinking".Subsequently,combined with the previous academic achievements of Reagan Administration's foreign policy towards the Soviet Union,this paper mainly elaborates on each part of the whole agenda,including Strategic Defense Initiative,covert assistance for Afghan Muslim guerrillas,human rights diplomacy strategy and a strategy for bilateral relations.Finally,this paper argues that both defensive and offensive“four-part agenda”strategy which fully exemplifies the combination of hard and soft power is formed by integrating and flexibly applying four completely different fields.Through this strategy,the U.S.-Soviet relations not only achieved the third reconciliation during the Cold War era,the Reagan Administration also turned the positive attitude demonstrated by the Soviet Union into its own strategic superiority.It not only consumed the increasingly scarce economic and financial resources of the Soviet Union,accelerated the Soviet Union's strategic rollback,but also effectively agitated the reform sentiments within the Soviet Union and its allies through peaceful evolution,which paved the way for the following radical changes in Eastern Europe and the dismantling of the Soviet Union.