Third World Military Elites in Soviet Perspective

摘要

The importance that military aid has assumed in Soviet dealings with Third World governments has long been recognized by Western students of Soviet arms transfers, and a large number of monographs on the subject have been published in the last decade. Even so, available treatments have been largely confined to statistical analyses of aggregate data on Soviet outlays for military assistance, tabulations of hardware deliveries, or case studies of bilateral aid relationships. But a systematic effort to uncover the system of political-military views that informs Soviet policy toward and dealings with the armed forces of the Third World has yet to be undertaken. For all the tactical opportunism of their behavior, the Soviets do possess such a system of views -- views which have changed significantly over the years, and without an awareness of which no understanding of the Soviet military aid program would be complete. These views are not, to be sure, set forth in Soviet writings that treat the subject directly -- it is much too sensitive for that. But the Soviets do write about their clients, the military establishments of the Third World, and in particular about the role of thse establishments in the societies of which they are members. (Author)