Reevaluation of Eduard Shevardnadze's role in the Soviet foreign policy making

Abstract

Eduard Shevardnadze and his role in foreign policy making of the Soviet Union was and still is one of the topics superficially touched by academics, scholars and political experts. Looking at the information that existed back then and the one available today, it is clear that in most of the times, the scholars contributed their works to the overall perspective of the Cold War. Though scholars did place their attention on the foreign policy of both US and Soviet Union, many of them lacked information about Eduard Shevardnadze, who was responsible for changes and developments in Soviet foreign policy, along with the improvement of US-Soviet relations. In order to give Eduard Shevardnadze a due credit for his work, this thesis takes a closer look at the primary sources, academic works and new available information about the Soviet foreign policy making, namely the major changes coordinated by Eduard Shevardnadze in it, his relations with Mikhail Gorbachev and the development of US-Soviet relations in the onset of the Soviet collapse. In order to contribute to the existing knowledge about the Soviet foreign policy making, the thesis draws its attention to the main aspects of Shevardnadze’s career and to the consequences it brought both for Soviet foreign policy and international affairs. The main aspect of this work is to analyze newly available information about the “wins” and “losses” Shevardnadze acquired at his position in the Soviet leadership. It is important to reevaluate the existing knowledge and give the due credit to his work and career. The thesis poses questions that were not answered previously, and at the same time poses new ones, as more information becomes available.