H Istorical Sociology a N D Great Power Vulnerability
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T it l e P a g e H ist o r ic a l So c io l o g y a n d G rea t Po w er V ulnerability : T h e En d o f t h e Co l d W a r a n d t h e Co l l a pse o f t h e So v ie t U n i o n Nicholas Lyon Bisley Department of International Relations London School of Economics and Political Science .uj Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London. 2001 1 UMI Number: U176267 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U176267 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 IH S, S> h 37 %2 Ab s t r a c t This thesis examines the collapse of Soviet state power from an international perspective. It assesses the extent to which the Soviet Union’s international confrontation with the capitalist West, and the end of that confrontation, contributed to the strengthening and weakening of the Soviet state. It shows that the state’s international stance of hostility, in both social-systemic and geopolitical terms, became a central component of Soviet state power. Central to this study is the assumption that the continuation of state power is contingent on the successful reproduction of the institutions of political rule. To this end, the thesis develops a historical sociological theory of the state which builds on a critique of neo-Weberian institutional-functional theories of the modem state. Using this theory, the thesis examines the development of Soviet state power and draws out the ways in which the international confrontation with the West reinforced the Soviet state and came to develop and shape its structures and institutions. Following an examination of the end of the Cold War, the thesis considers the way in which the change in international policy undermined elements of Soviet power, particularly in terms of ideology, legitimacy and material-organisational structures. The retreat from this posture, undertaken by Gorbachev through the 1980s, removed the conflict as a structure of the state, contributed to its weakening and helped make the state vulnerable to the challenges of the 1990-91 period. The thesis concludes that the international confrontation played an important ideational and material role in the development and undermining of Soviet state power. Moreover, the international confrontation was a vital part of the architecture of the Soviet state which helped make the state’s claim to rule a more robust and effective socio-political mechanism. 2 Acknowledgements In writing this thesis I have incurred more debts than I can hope to repay. Here I would like to give credit to the people who have helped me complete this thesis. I would like to thank Michael Mann, Vendulka Kubalkova, John Hobson, Chris Reus-Smit and Steve Hobden for permission to cite their respective unpublished manuscripts. Steve Hobden organised a conference on Historical Sociology and International Relations, at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, which helped act as catalyst for my work, and I thank him for facilitating this. Friends in the International Relations Department at the LSE have provided an ideal environment for undertaking PhD research. I would particularly like to thank Per Hammarlund, Jason Ackleson, Sarah Owen Vandersluis, Mohammed Hafez and Chris Brown each of whom read various chapters in their earlier incarnations and who all helped make the finished product infinitely better. I am extremely fortunate to have parents who have supported me, in every sense, throughout my studies and to them I owe a special debt of gratitude. Two people, above all, deserve special mention. Catherine Button experienced the production process from day one and helped keep my momentum going when inertia seemed about to set in. More importantly, she read the entire manuscript with a consummate editorial professionalism and inestimably improved the content of this work. For both of these efforts I thank her profusely. Finally, Fred Halliday has been an exemplary supervisor. His guidance, support and confidence in me and my work were crucial to the completion of this thesis. For this support and his friendship I am extremely grateful. 3 Ac r o n y m s U s e d i n T h e s is CFE Conventional Forces in Europe CIA Central Intelligence Agency CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CoCom Co-ordinating Committee on East-West Trade COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance CPE Centrally Planned Economy CPD Congress of People’s Deputies CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union. FRG Federal Republic of Germany GDR German Democratic Republic GNP Gross National Product GOSSBANK Soviet State Bank GOSSNAB Soviet State Acquisition Agency GOSSPLAN Soviet State Planning Agency ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile IMF International Monetary Fund INF Intermediate Nuclear Forces IR The academic study of International Relations KGB State Security Council (USSR) LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NMP National Material Product (Soviet equivalent of GNP) NSC National Security Council OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries RCP Russian Communist Party RSFSR Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic SDI Strategic Defence Initiative SSRC Social Science Research Council START Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty TsSU Central Statistics Directorate (USSR) UN United Nations USA United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 4 Ta b l e o f Co n t e n t s TITLE P A G E .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................................3 ACRONYMS USED IN THESIS..................................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................................................................5 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................10 1.1 Th e s is...................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Context of the Th e s is .....................................................................................................................12 1.2.1 The Collapse of the Soviet Union.................................................................................. 12 1.2.2 International Relations and the End of the Cold War................................................15 Theoretical and Analytic Studies............................................................................................................. 16 Memoirs and Current Event History...................................................................................................... 21 1.2.3 Historical Sociology.......................................................................................................25 Historical Sociology and IR .....................................................................................................................25 Randall Collins and the Collapse of the USSR ......................................................................................27 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................30 1.3 Conceptual Fram ew ork ............................................................................................................... 31 1.3.1 Political Process and State Vulnerability.................................................................... 31 1.3.2 International Confrontation and the Cold War...........................................................36 International Confrontation: 1917-1941................................................................................................38 International Confrontation: The Cold War ........................................................................................... 40 1.4 Thesis Overview..................................................................................................................................46 2 A HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD ........................................................................48 2.1 The R ise of H istorical Sociology in IR ...................................................................................50 2.2 International H istorical Sociological M e th o d .............................................................54 2.2.1 Assumptions and Ontology............................................................................................54