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Testing Gorbachev

By Graham T. Allison, Jr.
Fall 1988
Article Summary and Author Biography

Criticizes "the failure of American policymakers to develop any concept or strategy for dealing with the 'new-thinking' Soviet leadership". Proposes that "the United States and its allies... reach beyond containment to aggressive engagement of the Soviet Union in ways that encourage Gorbachev's reformist instincts" by means of specific tests of his intentions in the fields of arms control, regional conflict and human rights.

Graham T. Allison, Jr., is Dean of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is coauthor, with William Ury, of the forthcoming volume, Windows of Opportunity: From Cold War to Peaceful Competition.

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