Fear, Loathing, and Cracks in the Mirror Images: The Able Archer-83 Crisis and Peacemaking in the Soviet-American Rivalry.

Can international crises help to push long-term rivals toward peace? If so, how and under what circumstances are such crises likely to promote rivalry de-escalation or termination? In an effort to address these questions, I examine an understudied but highly volatile Cold War crisis. Precipitated by an ambitious NATO military exercise, the Able Archer 83 crisis, like the Cuban Missile Crisis 21 years earlier, appears to have pushed the superpowers to the brink of nuclear warfare. Information revealed by Soviet defectors about Moscow's anxiety and possible nuclear response jarred U.S. President Ronald Reagan, altering his understanding of Soviet threat perceptions and pushing him toward negotiation, arms control, and peacemaking with what he had dubbed the "evil empire." By revealing information, the Able Archer 83 crisis had a profound impact on a key individual, cracking mirror images and triggering a reevaluation of attitudes and policy orientation toward the Soviets that may have constituted the very first step toward a thaw in Soviet-American relations. The case illustrates how volatile, sudden events can act as catalysts of rapprochement between rivals, helping to address the question of timing of initial moves toward peacemaking. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]