American Geopolitical Culture strongly rejects the concept of spheres of influence, but great power competition often dictates a tacit acceptance of rival powers' privileged zones of control. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union sought to maintain a sphere of influence along its border, and on multiple occasions resorted to the use of force to maintain control over foreign states. How did the United States react to the Soviet use of force in sovereign territory that fell within the Soviet privileged spheres of influence? This paper looks at three case studies, the Hungarian Revolution, the Prague Spring, and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and provides an analysis of the American foreign policy response, and the geopolitical and cultural values that informed policymakers' decision-making. Despite the limited interventions pursued by the United States, the United States constantly sought to undermine Soviet efforts to maintain a sphere of influence. In Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the United States prioritized long-term strategies on a global scale to weaken the Soviet Union in lieu of tactical interventions in opposition to the Soviet use of force. In Afghanistan, the United States continued to maintain its long-term strategies, while taking advantage of unique local factors to place additional strain on the Soviet Union. Across all three case studies the United States consistently pursued strategies that sought to weaken the Soviet Union as a whole, rather than just target individual spheres of influence. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation examines the American response to the Soviet use of force within its spheres of influence during the Cold War. American politicians have strongly rejected the validity of spheres of influence and consider them to be a form of imperialism that undermines a state's sovereign right to govern its own affairs. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union used military force to exert control over spheres of influence in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan. The American response to each of these case studies varied. In Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the United States actively avoided intervening against the Soviet invasion, while in Afghanistan the United States provided extensive aid in the form of weapons, training, and intelligence. What explains the difference in the American approach to each of these case studies? This dissertation argues Soviet sphere of influence dynamics were stronger in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which acted as a deterrent to any American intervention. Rather than engaging the USSR in its established spheres of influence, the United States prioritized opposing Soviet expansion elsewhere while propagandizing Soviet brutality to sway world opinion away from the Soviet Block. In Afghanistan, Soviet influence was considerably weaker, allowing the United States greater opportunities to contest the Soviet invasion directly.

This thesis defines the formation and consummation of Soviet Bolshevism as another imperialist force rather than its stated objective of freeing the people of the United Soviet Socialist Republics from the clutches of an inequitable elite. Through the policies and objectives of the Soviet government the workers and citizens of Ukraine and the Baltic republics were not liberated or given autonomy over their lives and labor, as Marxist-Leninism would have them believe. I review the Russification efforts found first in the Tsarist Russian Empire and then continued by Soviets in the nature of pursuing or denying cultural, political, and economic self-sufficiency.

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Russia's renewed interest and involvement in the African continent is reminiscent of a time when the Soviet Union supported various ideologically aligned groups to win a geopolitical power struggle and assert its position as a global superpower. The motives seem to have changed, but the question is whether Russian warfare in Africa has changed as well. In this comparative study, the Soviet Union's support for the MPLA and their takeover in Angola in 1975 is compared with Russia's support for the military junta that seized power in Mali after a military coup in 2020, aiming to determine how Russian/Soviet warfare in Africa has evolved over time. Supported by Thomas Rid and Lars Ulfving's theoretical framework on so-called active measures, three operationalized variables are identified and analyzed as: white, gray, and black. Through qualitative text analysis, reports and literature from the cases are examined. The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of how hybrid warfare has been and is currently used as a means of Russian influence in Africa. The methods for this have rather been reinforced than changed historically by global development trends, especially the spread of information technology and the utilization of private companies and other actors. This study has confirmed that there is a historically rooted common Russian strategy to acquire and exert influence, a strategy based on the Soviet Union's traditional methods, active measures. A dual strategy consisting of both official policies and unofficial means where the unofficial means are driven by private actors, facilitating Russia's plausible deniability.

The following research project examines the development strategies in three Eastern European states after the fall of the Soviet Union. By examining the development path of each state, it is possible to evaluate successful paths toward development. The study researches not only economic development, but also social and political development. The three states chosen depict a variety of success rates in different areas. It will be important to notice that the state that has the most success developing economically is not the state that has the best equal rights for men and women. Finally, by exploring the different avenues for development, it may be possible to find a universal basis for successful development. This paper attempts to reach a consensus without forgetting the uniqueness of each state and the specific historical backgrounds that have led to successes and failures. To understand the diverging success rates, one must understand the difficulty of instituting a successful government within a state that had been ruled by a central power for decades. Independence is a difficult advantage.

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