| Acknowledgments | |
| Preface: Encounters with a Declining Power | |
| Abbreviations | |
| Ch. 1 | Introduction: How the New Thinkers Beat the Old Thinkers | 3 |
| Ch. 2 | Explaining Change in Soviet Foreign Policy: Three Competing Arguments | 18 |
| Ch. 3 | Escalation in Afghanistan, 1979-1980: A Case of Old Thinking | 39 |
| Ch. 4 | The Groundwork for Change, 1982-1984: Old Thinkers Rule but New Thinkers Are Mobilized | 65 |
| Ch. 5 | Changing the Political Agenda, 1985-1989: New Thinkers Gain Control of Political Resources | 92 |
| Ch. 6 | Conclusion: The Importance of Ideas and Politics in Explaining Change | 124 |
| Index | 133 |
