was Detente superficial essay

After more than forty years, the Cold War era ended in 1991 largely due to Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Despite being allies during WWII, the United States and the Soviet Union had an acrimonious relationship from 1947 to 1991. This period of time was known for the military build-up of each country, ultimately resulting in a nuclear missile stand-off. President Reagan’s goal of “peace through strength” was the basis for negotiations with the Soviet Union that ended the threat of nuclear war by eliminating the use of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

The Cold War was a period when the Soviet Union and the United States began negotiations which would eventually see the end of the Cold War. Still, in the early 80’s the Cold War offered little open diplomacy between the Americans and the Soviets. As such, both were content to increase their nuclear stockpiles and augment their armed forces budgets if necessary. Therefore, anti-nuclear movements and demonstrations were a typical feature of the early 1980’s (The Cold War in the 1980's, 2010). The international achievement of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or (INF), was an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union that each would destroy an entire class of weapons as part of this nuclear disarmament treaty (Abbot, 2011).

First, the President lays out a clear desire to unilaterally pursue a reduction in arms between both the Soviet Union and the United States. Specifically, he calls for the reduction of Nuclear weapons with emphasis on medium and Long-range missile systems. Second, President Reagan calls for a complete ban on all chemical weapons. In pursuit of this goal, Reagan articulates that all countries move forward with the Intermediate Range Nuclear (IRN) Forces Treaty and make this disarmament a reality for all parties involved.

Speaking of Reagan’s policies of yesteryear, one of Reagan’s primary goals as president was to tear down the “Evil Empire.” In 1985, Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth leader of the Soviet Union in Geneva to initiate talks about bringing the two countries together. As soon as Reagan came to know Gorbachev a bit more, he realized that he was different from other Soviet leaders: he was charming and humorous (Noonan, 288). The two were not tense like with other presidents and Soviet leaders, they were able to talk earnestly. After many meetings, the two then eventually almost agreed to disarm all ballistic missiles in ten years. However, there was one caveat that Gorbachev said at the very end, “This all depends of course on you

During Nixon's administration in 1972 relationships with china was improved. This was effective in not only a friendship with china but it also concerned the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union and china no longer had ties with allies, the Soviet Union would be less active in their organization. This action leads to President Nixon's Détente Which meant "relaxing" or in the situation the easing of Cold War tensions. Détente also

When one can truly understand and uncover the meaning behind these articles and how they fit into one or more of the ‘boxes’ we call paradigms and perspectives. In order to dissect and analyze the case of the Cold War, especially its origins, one must not only skim through the text and uncover main ideas, but also must also relate the readings to these paradigms and establish one’s own ideals and opinions regarding the study of international relations. Personally, I believe the articles associated with the origins of the Cold War along with Professor Katzenstein’s lecture on the topic provide strong arguments for the use of a ‘middle fish’ perspective and a ‘big fish’ paradigm: domestic politics and realism, respectively. Through George Kennan’s personal accounts, experience and analysis at both the time of the Cold War’s inception and forty-plus years later after the fall of the Soviet Union, a point is made regarding the nature of Soviet expansion as an offensive maneuver, which he believed must be contained by a defensive strategy. This point of conflicting strategies by the U.S. and (especially) the Soviet Union provides the reader with a realist argument and perspective. Also, in his second piece, which details remarks made to the Council on Foreign Relations in 1994, Kennan explains that instead of whole-heartedly adopting

In conclusion, President Nixon and Soviet leader Brezhnev developed detente from 1969 to 1979 because of the overwhelming fear of a possibility of a nuclear war. The cost of the arms race had taken an immense toll on the economic stability of both the United States and the Soviet Union, causes both leaders to adopt a more pragmatic view of the Cold War. The European countries involved in the Cold War were also taking steps to relax tensions between the countries divided by the iron curtain. This caused both nations to develop this period of detente and establish treaties through the Arms Limitations

He used some of the outspoken anti-Soviet speech used by an American president since the early 1960’s, he, for example, said that Soviet leaders “reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat” (Schulzinger, 1994, p. 16). This hostile opinion led to him giving up on détente, an approach his predecessors had used in dealing with the Cold War. Détente is a term used for trying to establish better relations between countries that dislike and distrust each other. At his news conference on January 29, 1981, Reagan said: “Well, so far détente has been a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims” (Reagan, 1981). This quote shows Reagan’s radical approach in ending détente and his feelings; he did not want to continue steady relations with the Soviet Union. Reagan felt like the U.S was the only one trying to create a better relationship and therefore did not see any use in continuing

Despite the increase of defense projects and counter-Soviet initiatives, Reagan did desire for negotiation and improve relations between Washington and Kremlin (Rossinow, 224). Soon afterward, during his second term, Reagan held meetings with leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with whom he negotiated a treaty to eliminate a range of nuclear weapons. Between the two men was a forged relationship- as a partnership, as friends. Reagan, surprisingly, even suggested that both powers should do what they can to ensure that such weapons entirely removed from the world (Rossinow, 232)- although the proposal 's implementation did not work, it still did prove interestingly of Reagan 's thinking to establish disarmament, even if it never happened. Nonetheless, ending the war after so many decades of tension was a monumental triumph for the US and American policy.

For many, the predominant issue of the Cold War was the threat of nuclear weapons. Stalin had learned of the Manhattan Project by 1943 and begun the development of a Soviet bomb. Were it not for the Manhattan Project, this threat would not have existed and the Cold War would not have been.

In order for Reagan to succeed, [Reagan] used patience and negotiation to end the Cold War. During Reagan's presidency four USSR leaders attempted to negotiate with Reagan (“Children’s”). Reagan increased pressure on the arms race and waited until a deal could be settled that did not compromise the American people. After forty years the Iron Curtain fell, and the new deal settled the “superpowers first agreement to reduce nuclear weapons” (“Children’s”). The fall of the USSR was significant because it liberated millions of people living the impoverished lifestyle of communism. While modern-day Russia does not have a perfect government the end of the Cold War significantly made the world closer to ending

It also engaged in proxy wars in Vietnam, Angola and the Middle East. However despite the tension both sides agreed on a policy of détente. “The policy of détente had primarily meant détente in Europe. Détente also contributed to regulating the arms race through certain limitation agreements” G.Lundestad (2005:87).

As tensions continued to augment profoundly throughout the latter half of the Cold War period, they brought forth a movement from a previous bipolar conflicting course, to one of a more multipolar nature. These tensions were now not only restricted to the Soviet Union and United states, but amongst multiple other nations of the globe. It became a general consensus that a notion of ‘peace’ was sought globally, hence, the emergence of détente. The nature of this idea in the short term conveyed itself to be an act of change for the conflicting nations, however, in the long term it proved to be a blatant continuity, ultimately acting as a ‘mechanism for domestic fortification’ which prompted a more divisive tone. It became apparent that by the prime 1970’s Cold War countries were now seeking a state of relaxation in political and international tension, détente, through measures of diplomacy and negotiation. Actions, influences and treaties such as the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the establishment of SALT 1, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the Shanghai Communique of 1972 evidently help reinforce that the concept of détente brought a period focused on lessening the tensions of international relations and ultimately achieve political relation for the future of the Cold War, although the success and impact of this era is abhorred by many historians who have concluded that détente didn’t activate any positive changes to the cold war, and was conclusively a failure.

Détente is a French word that refers to the time during the Cold war that tensions between America and the USSR cooled down. This cooling period began around 1971 and took full effect when President Richard M. Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I. Brezhnev, in Moscow, May 1972. Both countries were shocked by the Vietnam War, and found that the arms race was too expensive causing Détente, this time of low tensions. Though the détente did not end the Cold War, it increased communications between the 2 nations and allowed them to form treaties limiting their nuclear weapons.

The idea of détente or relaxation of the Cold War “was more abstract proposition.” (Gillon p. 1114) It intentions were to modify relations between the United States and the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China. The hope was that détente would slowly alter Soviet policy overtime and eventually end of the Cold War. Kissinger believed that Soviet and U.S. could establish a partnership, believing that U.S.S.R would grow to become dependent upon the U.S. through détente. In the 1960’s the Soviet Union had a “struggling economy in desperate need of