Triumph of Improvisation , livre ebook

281

pages

English

Ebooks

2014

Écrit par
Graham Wilson James

Publié par
Cornell University Press

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281

pages

English

Ebooks

2014

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 février 2014

EAN13

9780801470226

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

In The Triumph of Improvisation, James Graham Wilson takes a long view of the end of the Cold War, from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 to Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. Drawing on deep archival research and recently declassified papers, Wilson argues that adaptation, improvisation, and engagement by individuals in positions of power ended the specter of a nuclear holocaust. Amid ambivalence and uncertainty, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, George Shultz, and George H. W. Bush-and a host of other actors-engaged with adversaries and adapted to a rapidly changing international environment and information age in which global capitalism recovered as command economies failed. Eschewing the notion of a coherent grand strategy to end the Cold War, Wilson paints a vivid portrait of how leaders made choices; some made poor choices while others reacted prudently, imaginatively, and courageously to events they did not foresee. A book about the burdens of responsibility, the obstacles of domestic politics, and the human qualities of leadership, The Triumph of Improvisation concludes with a chapter describing how George H. W. Bush oversaw the construction of a new configuration of power after the fall of the Berlin Wall, one that resolved the fundamental components of the Cold War on Washington's terms.

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 février 2014

EAN13

9780801470226

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

THE TRIUMPH OF IMPROVISATION

GORBACHE V’ S ADAPTABI L I TY, RE AGAN’ S E NGAGE ME NT, AND T HE E ND OF T HE COL D WAR

J a m e s G r a h a m W i l s o n

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wilson, James Graham, 1980– author. The triumph of improvisation : Gorbachev’s adaptability, Reagan’s engagement, and the end of the Cold War / James Graham Wilson. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5229-1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. United States—Foreign relations—Soviet Union. 2. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—United States. 3. United States—Foreign relations—1981–1989. 4. Cold War—Diplomatic history. 5. Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich, 1931– 6. Reagan, Ronald. I. Title. E183.8.S65W56 2014 327.73047—dc232013027121

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For My Dad

Co nte nts

Acknowledgments ix A Brief Note on Sources xi List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction: Individuals and Power

1. Reagan Reaches 2. Stagnation and Choices 3. Shultz Engages 4. Gorbachev Adapts 5. Recovery and Statecraft 6. Gorbachev’s New World Order 7. Bush’s New World Order Conclusion: Individuals and Strategy

Notes 205 Index 253

1 9 37 63 87 116 143 170 197

A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

I am deeply indebted to a number of indi-viduals and institutions. Research was made possible by travel grants from the University of Virginia’s Corcoran Department of History, Society of Fellows, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as well as the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations and the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. I thank Daniel Linke of the Seeley J. Mudd Man-uscript Library at Princeton University, Robert Holzweiss of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, and Sherrie Fletcher and Cate Sewell of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I extend my gratitude to the academic community of Vassar College—in particular, Rebecca Edwards, Michael McCarthy, and James Merrell. I thank Robert Brigham for his mentorship and tireless support. I am especially grateful to the faculty of the University of Virginia’s Department of History: to Michael Holt, Sophie Rosenthal, and John Stagg for early and sustained encouragement; to Peter Onuf, Jeffrey Rossman, and Philip Zelikow for their mentorship in teaching and scholarship; and toJasonEldred,KateGeoghegan,LawrenceHatter,BarınKayao˘glu,Chris-topher Loomis, Stephen Macekura, Kathryn Shively Meier, Harold Mock, Victor Nemchenok, Martin Öhman, Robert Rakove, Hilde Restad, Rachel Sheldon, Scott Spencer, Dana Stefanelli, Lauren Turek, and Kelly Winck. I would like to thank Artemy Kalinovsky, Svetlana Savranskaya, Josh Itzkowitz Shifrinson, Ambassador Anatoly Adamishin, and Ambassador Jack Matlock for sharing research and recollections and Holger Nehring and Tom Nichols for wisdom and encouragement. I spent the 2009–10 academic year in Geneva at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, as an Albert Gallatin Fellow in Inter-national Affairs. I thank Jussi Hanhimäki and Davide Rodogno for the oppor-tunity to participate in a year-long seminar there; I also thank Thomas Fischer, Kars Aznavour, John Goodman, and Merdan Gochkarov. During that year, Ruud van Dijk, Jessica Gienow-Hecht, and Leopold Nuti allowed me to pre-sent portions of what became this book in Amsterdam, Cologne, and Rome.

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