This is an attempt to address the paradoxes of Soviet behaviour in the Horn of Africa. Dr Patman, editor of the journal Third World in Soviet Perspective, traces the impact of history, superpower relationships and competition on Soviet perceptions and motives. Dr Patman provides a careful historical background to the recent conflicts and shows how the Soviet Union and its East European partners dramatically switched from being close allies of Somalia to allies of Ethiopia and then intervened in the Ethiopian-Somali war of 1977–8 to ensure the military defeat of their former ally. However, he does not confine himself simply to retrospective analysis. He also assesses the Soviet experience in the region in the period since 1978, and considers in particular the impact of Gorbachev's thinking and the new diplomacy. The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa provides the most detailed examination yet of Soviet policy.