The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War

In this penetrating analysis of the role of political leadership in the Cold War's ending, Archie Brown shows why the popular view that Western economic and military strength left the Soviet Union with no alternative but to admit defeat is wrong. To understand the significance of the parts played by Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in East-West relations in the second half of the 1980s, Brown addresses several specific questions: What were the values and assumptions of these leaders, and how did their perceptions evolve? What were the major influences on them? To what extent were they reflecting the views of their own political establishment or challenging them? How important for ending the East-West standoff were their interrelations? Would any of the realistically alternative leaders of their countries at that time have pursued approximately the same policies? The Cold War got colder in the early 1980s and the relationship between the two military superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, each of whom had the capacity to annihilate the other, was tense. By the end of the decade, East-West relations had been utterly transformed, with most of the dividing lines -including the division of Europe- removed. Engagement between Gorbachev and Reagan was a crucial part of that process of change. More surprising was Thatcher's role. Regarded by Reagan as his ideological and political soulmate, she formed also a strong and supportive relationship with Gorbachev (beginning three months before he came to power). Promoting Gorbachev in Washington as a man to do business with, she became, in the words of her foreign policy adviser Sir Percy Cradock, an agent of influence in both directions.

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART 1 1: The Cold War and its Dangers 2: The Making of Mikhail Gorbachev 3: Gorbachev's Widening Horizons 4: The Rise of Ronald Reagan 5: Reagan's First Term 6: Margaret Thatcher: The Moulding of the 'Iron Lady' 7: Thatcher and the Turn to Engagement with Communist Europe PART 2 8: Breaking the ice (1985) 9: Nuclear Fallout: Chernobyl and Reykjavik (1986 10: Building trust (1987) 11: The End of the Ideological Divide (1988) 12: The End of the Cold War (1989) 13: Why the Cold War Ended When it Did 14: Unintended Consequences (1990) 15: Final Year - of the USSR and of Gorbachev's Power (1991) 16: Political Leadership and the End of the Cold War: Concluding Reflections Notes Index

About the Author :
Archie Brown is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of the British Academy, and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of numerous books on the former Soviet Union and its demise, including The Gorbachev Factor (1996, also published by Oxford University Press) and The Rise and Fall of Communism (2009), both of which won both the Alec Nove Prize and the Political Studies Association's W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize for best politics book of the year. A leading authority on Mikhail Gorbachev, he was the first person to draw Margaret Thatcher's attention to Gorbachev (at a 1983 Chequers seminar) as a reform-minded likely future Soviet leader.

Review :
The Human Factor is in many respects the culmination of Archie Brown's long and distinguished career as a scholar and writer. It is full of a lifetime's achievement of wisdom and thought. Brown's book is a superb achievement, a balanced, judicious and authoritative account of a foundation event of our contemporary world A fascinating and instructive read ... Everybody will learn something from this first-class book. A masterly survey of the end of the cold war and the roles played in it by Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Lucidly written and scholarly. Browns narrative is peppered with anecdotes that add texture to our knowledge of the period. At times he injects great humour. At others, as in his retelling of the failed coup against Gorbachev and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, he infuses the narrative with drama and gripping suspense In The Human Factor, Brown zooms out from analyzing Soviet decision-making and asks a broader question about why the Cold War ended. Scholars have proposed multiple explanations for the Cold War's end... but Brown encourages readers to focus on the personalities at the top of both the Soviet party-state and Western governments. It is often a challenge for historians to find the right balance between the human factor and the historical forces at play. The value of Archie Brown's study [...] is that it does precisely that. What The Human Factor does do, and does so well, is provide a fascinating new perspective on already well-trodden ground. Brown devotes several fine-grained biographical chapters to the "making" of Gorbachev, the "rise" of Reagan, and the "moulding" of the "Iron Lady", and then traces the three leaders interactions... The result is a compelling picture of what led [them] to act as they did and how the difference each one made differed from the impact of the others. ... magisterial work... based on a wealth of sources in Russian and English... The Human Factor is as much a fine work of foreign policy analysis as it is Cold War history... a fascinating, close-structured narrative. Brown's narrative is peppered with anecdotes that add texture to our knowledge of the period. At times... he injects great humour. At others, as in his retelling of the failed coup against Gorbachev and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, he infuses the narrative with drama and gripping suspense... ... splendid new book...The Human Factor makes a major contribution to scholarship and policy analysis. ...a thought-provoking book...I highly recommend this book to readers. Brown is right to highlight the human factor in the ending of the Cold War...the sharpness of many of Browns insights, condensed with commendable crispness in this 500-page [make the book an], eminently readable foray into a highly contentious subject. The book is crammed with information, is well-written, and shows that Brown has a dry sense of humour. Here and elsewhere, as he once did for the leaders about whom he now writes, Archie Brown's scholarship can provide wisdom and hope. Another tour de force from Archie Brown: detailed scholarship, elegant prose and a clear argument. Read this book to find why we should not ignore the human factor underpinning great historical shifts. A fascinating account of how the Cold War ended, explored through the personal interactions between three world leaders - Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher.