The Issue of Arms Race Limitation in the Expert Memoranda of the Institute for USA Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, Late 1960s – Early 1970s

This article examines Soviet perspectives on the limitation of the arms race in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as reflected in expert memoranda produced by the Institute for US Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences and submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). The study highlights the development of arguments in favour of détente within these documents. The memoranda reveal the efforts of Soviet Americanists to promote the normalisation of relations with the United States – an objective of growing significance given the ambivalence within the Party leadership regarding rapprochement. In this context, the Institute’s director, Georgy Arbatov – who maintained close ties with prominent figures such as Brezhnev, Andropov, and Gromyko – sought to position the Institute’s expertise as a resource for those advocating engagement. Soviet experts justified arms control on both economic and strategic grounds. They underscored the disproportionate economic burden of the arms race on the USSR, which impeded much-needed domestic reform, while also highlighting the technological and economic superiority of the United States, which risked shifting the strategic balance. Alongside analytical assessments, the memoranda contained concrete policy recommendations. These included exploiting internal political dynamics in the United States, expanding public diplomacy, and strengthening ties with American society. The experts advocated for a flexible strategy capable of sustaining bilateral relations beyond short-term electoral cycles or presidential administrations. Taken together, the memoranda constitute a significant source for understanding the role of foreign policy expertise in the Soviet Union and reflect broader attempts to conceptualise alternative approaches to US-Soviet relations during the Cold War.

Institute for the USA and Canada, USSR Academy of Sciences, arms race, détente, academic expertise, USSR, foreign policy, Georgy Arbatov