Reconstructing the Cold War: The Early Years, 1945-1958
"Ted Hopf uses a sophisticated and nuanced societal constructivist approach to illuminate Soviet understandings and motivations in the years of the Cold War. By combining discursive analysis with a serious investigation of institutions, he demonstrates that the Stalinist state discourse of capitalist danger to state socialism, which dominated in official views until Stalin's death in 1953, was replaced by an alternative discourse of difference that allowed for greater variety and tolerance within the socialist camp. Taking identities as fundamental to foreign policy, Hopf illustrates their profound effects on the choices made by the Soviet leaders. From his unique perspective, he is able to go beyond conventional neorealist accounts and lay out an original new approach to understanding the origins of the Cold War. This is a work that breaks through the impasses of old-style Sovietology and enlivens our debates and understanding."--Rondald Grigor Suny, author of The Soviet Experiment"A uniquely audacious book that marshaled findings of Soviet political, social, and even cultural history to demonstrate the power of a Constructivist theory in the analysis of the Cold War. The effort of an international relations theorist to break interdisciplinary partitions and get to the nitty-gritty of domestic scenery must be applauded."--Vladislav Zubok, author of A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev"In today's environment of overwhelming academic output, Hopf stands out as a scholar whose research one is always inspired to read and reflect upon.  This book is no exception.  It is a must-read for its combination of IR theory and history, precisely because history is not used simply for quick theoretical points.  Instead, Hopf devises a theoretical framework for understanding the history of Soviet foreign policy." --Journal of Cold War Studies