Freedom of Choice
선택의 자유
Part of New Political Thinking
A diplomatic principle declared by Mikhail Gorbachev in his UN General Assembly address of 7 December 1988, holding that every people has the right to choose its own political and social system without outside interference, and that this principle admits no exceptions. It formally repudiated the Brezhnev Doctrine, which had justified Soviet armed intervention in Eastern European satellite states, and constituted the decisive doctrinal shift that kept Soviet troops in their barracks during the revolutions of 1989. A core component of the New Thinking, it was thereafter widely dubbed the Sinatra Doctrine.
Related people
Related historical events
Sources
- Mikhail Gorbachev, Address at the United Nations, New York, 7 December 1988 (Novosti Press Agency, 1988), via marxists.org — Gorbachev declares: "The necessity of the principle of freedom of choice is also clear to us. … Freedom of choice is a universal principle and there should be no exceptions"
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia article on New Political Thinking, confirming свобода выбора as a key component of the doctrine declared in the December 1988 UN speech
- Wikipedia (EN) English Wikipedia article on New Political Thinking, describing the doctrine and its replacement of the Brezhnev Doctrine