What did Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of perestroika mean for future Soviet support of Marxist revolution in the third world? In this book, four experts on Soviet relations with the third world take a sharp-eyed look at the role the Soviet Union played in providing assistance to Marxist revolutionaries and assess the changes in policy that occurred under Gorbachev's leadership. Throughout the Cold War, the United States and other Western nations regarded Soviet support of revolutions in developing countries as a serious threat to Western security interests. Yet the Soviet Union learned that it could not successfully initiate revolution in other countries; at best, it could only assist revolutionary groups that rose up against existing governments. Because the authors do not share a common perspective, their essays offer a detailed and challenging analysis of the complexities that have defined the Soviet Union's support of Marxist revolutions in the past and that will shape Soviet policy in the future.