The Global Cold War (review)

This particularly impressive and clearly written account of the Cold War is especially valuable because of its global perspective, and its focus on the worldwide impact of superpower confrontation. To find, for example, an entire chapter devoted to Ethiopia and Somalia is to be reminded of the complexity and intensity of the Cold War, of the interaction of local and global tensions, and of the extent to which chronologies did not coincide. Détente, a term frequently applied to the 1970s, scarcely described the situation in the Horn of Africa. Haile Mengistu emerges from Westad's book as a particularly dangerous figure, and the Soviet willingness to overlook his reign of terror is a reminder that the tendencies associated with Stalinism continued thereafter. Ambassador Anatolii Ratanov indeed saw a similarity between the activities of Mengistu's supporters within the Derg and the early revolutionary experience in Russia. There is also an instructive chapter on Iran and Afghanistan in the same period, which indicates how opposition to the U.S. did not necessarily extend to support for the Soviet Union. Two days after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Soviet ambassador promised Khomeini assistance in any conflict with the U.S., only to be told there could "be no mutual understanding between a Muslim nation and a non-Muslim government."

Westad is also good at the changing chronology of the Cold War. For example, he points out that, from the mid-1960s, it was clear to both Washington and Moscow that the focus for Cold War competition in Africa was shifting from North and Central to southern Africa, in part because of the Marxist orientation of many of that area's liberation movements. Far from being marginal, success in Africa in the 1970s is seen as giving many Soviets a renewed sense of pride in their own achievements and a conviction that the Soviet Union could contribute decisively to breakthroughs for Communism elsewhere. In practice, Africa was to disappoint the Soviets, but its relationship to the general currents of the Cold War is ably depicted.

Local actors do not detract attention from the superpowers, and the coverage of the latter is apposite and clear. Thus Ronald Reagan's policies are ably discussed. Westad argues that, at least initially, Reagan's attempts at spreading counterrevolution did not push the Soviets toward withdrawal, and that, at least up to early 1987, American pressure made it more difficult for Moscow to find a way out of its Third World predicaments. Gorbachev, whom Westad is taken with, is credited with having an understanding of self-determination, but, as Westad shows, the results on the ground were often messy. He is critical of the U.S.—"Seen from a third World perspective, the results of America's interventions are truly dismal. Instead of being a force for good—which they were no doubt intended to be—these incursions have devastated many societies and left them more vulnerable to further disasters of their own making" (p. 404), and argues that the U.S. and Europe should not be surprised if the impoverished world turns on them; but his judgmental remarks strike this reviewer as overly harsh. Nevertheless, an impressive work that deserves attention.