The Sino-Soviet conflict and Soviet-Japanese relations, 1960-1965

This thesis explores some aspects of the relevance of balance of power theory to the contemporary world scene. Specifically, an exploration of the theory leads to the formulation of the research hypothesis that the Sino-Soviet split led the Soviet Union to make the preliminary steps towards a rapprochement with Japan. This is an application of the regional balance of power theory. The historical setting -the events leading up to the Sino-Soviet conflict and a brief history of Soviet-Japanese relations- is traced to provide a background for the study. The technique used to measure the effects of the Sino-Soviet split on Soviet-Japanese relations is a quantitative content analysis of Soviet English- language journals. The study concludes that as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, the Soviet Union began in 1963 to move closer to Japan preliminary to a possible rapprochement. However, the culmination of this move was prevented by the effects of specific intervening variables.