Economic reforms of A.N. Kosygin and their impact on Soviet foreign policy in the 1970s–1980s: Lessons for contemporary economic and political strategies

This study re-examines the 1965 Kosygin reforms, arguing that their primary goal was not a liberal breakthrough but a conservative correction aimed at stabilising the planned economy by reviving the disciplined growth model of the Stalin era while avoiding its social costs. The results show that the reforms successfully spurred a short-term economic expansion, which translated into increased foreign policy activity: exports of machinery and Group A goods to socialist and developing allies grew, while selective “managed openness” (e.g. the FIAT-VAZ agreement) facilitated technology imports from the West. The research identifies the curtailment of the reforms by the mid-1970s as a result not of external overstretch but of internal institutional contradictions (soft budget constraints, administrative pricing, and ministerial resistance), amplified by the easing of external constraints due to rising oil revenues.