Lenin was a devoted reader of the Prussian general Karl von Clausewitz and a firm believer in the dictum that war is but politics by another name. That fundamental tenet continues to hold a prominent place in Soviet strategic and political thinking today. Leonard Schapiro has observed that the Soviet Union always behaves as if it were at war, and although this insight may not apply to all aspects of the Soviet system, it does go far toward explaining some of its peculiarities, both in domestic and in international policies. The Soviet leaders, it would seem, do not view conflict as the breakdown of politics or diplomacy – as it is often seen in the West – but rather as a continuation of the same in another form. This may be particularly true when the Soviet Union becomes involved in local conflicts in which it is not actually at war, but is actively engaged in providing military assistance and support to a regime that is at war.

The preceding five chapters have employed the conceptual framework developed in Chapter 4 to study the USSR's involvement in specific Third World conflicts. This systematic review now makes it possible to outline some of the general patterns and trends of Soviet involvement in Third World conflicts, to analyze the multiple factors that bear on Soviet policy, and to delineate some of the problems, limitations, and strengths of the USSR as an actor in local conflicts.