1 / 10

Detente

Detente. The term first used by French President Charles de Gaulle in the early 1960s Relaxation of East-West tensions Peaceful coexistence

leal
Download Presentation

Detente

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Detente

  2. The term first used by French President Charles de Gaulle in the early 1960s • Relaxation of East-West tensions • Peaceful coexistence • The core idea: despite the profound differences between the capitalist and communist systems, war is not inevitable, there are mutual interests which can be best served by cooperation in: • Avoiding a major war; pursuing arms control and disarmament • Joint approaches to regional conflicts • Trade and investment

  3. In a broad sense, détente started right after Stalin’s death. Several cycles of tension-relaxation from 1953 to 1991 • Important threshold: the 1963 Test Ban Treaty • Reached a mature, institutionalized stage in 1971-75 • 1971: US recognizes the People’s Republic of China • 1972: Settlement of the German Question • 1972: The SALT-1 Treaty • 1973: The US-Soviet trade agreement • 1975: The Helsinki Final Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe

  4. Khrushchev and Kennedy • Reformers, dynamic leaders who promoted change and took risks • Ideological warriors, optimistic about their systems’ prospects • Almost went to war in 1962, then laid the foundation of the arms control system • Kennedy was killed in 1963, Khrushchev overthrown in 1964 • Brezhnev and Nixon • Conservatives, preoccupied with order and stability • Less ideological, more pragmatic; defensive about their systems • Building on what was achieved in the previous decade

  5. Changes in the global balance of power • The nationalism-communism nexus in the Third World fuelled decolonization in the 1950s-1970s • Until the mid-1970s, the US continued to confront it as a major global threat in a futile struggle • America deadlocked, the war and domestic upheavals produce a profound political crisis at home, loss of influence abroad • The conservative-led USSR benefits from American setbacks by: • Continuing to support radical nationalists in the Third World; • Maintaining tight control over Eastern Europe; • Building up Soviet military potential; • And developing détente-type relations with the West

  6. The Drama of 1968 THE CHALLENGES • Vietnam: the Tet offensive and President Johnson’s defeat • Barricades in Paris and the fall of the conservative regime in France • The Prague Spring THE RESPONSES • Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King murdered • The George Wallace movement: the rise of American fascism • The Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia • The election of Richard Nixon

  7. The Nixon-Kissinger reform of US foreign policy Recognize the limits of American power: retrenchment and maneuvre • “Vietnamization” • Deal with the domestic crisis in the US • Arrange a new balance of power by recognizing Communist China and playing “the China card” against Russia • Appeal to Soviet conservatism; treat the USSR as a status-quo force; offer it incentives for acting like one • Arms control for containment and stability • Continued confrontation with the Left in the Third World (1973: Chile)

  8. Things that worked: • Arms control • Normalization of US relations with China • European security strengthened Failures: • The US-Soviet trade deal was torpedoed by US Congress:1973 • Nixon’s authoritarianism ultimately led to his defeat and resignation: 1974 • US defeat in Vietnam: 1975 Overall impression of a shift in international balance of power against the USA, in favour of USSR, China, and the Global Left

  9. Brezhnev’s benefits • Soviet conservatism seemed to work better than US conservatism • USSR seemed to get stronger and more influential in world affairs • High oil prices helped the Kremlin put off necessary reforms • But: • The system was stagnant and increasingly dysfunctional • The decolonization wave in the Global South was coming to an end

  10. The Carter Presidency (1977-80) • US tried to regain initiative through liberal internationalism • Commitment to détente, but also: • Raising the issue of human rights as a challenge to communist states • Growing concerns about Soviet military buildup and aid to Third World Left • By the end of 1979, Carter’s foreign policy was in shambles • The Iranian revolution, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and conservative revolt in the US buried détente. Talk of a “Second Cold War”

More Related