The article is an analysis of the relationships between regional questions and the strategic stance of the superpowers during the ebb and flow of détente. The exposition of the dynamics between "periphery" and "center" in East-West rivalry is mainly concentrated on the 1970s, with some lines on trajectories up to that decade, and a comment on later developments. The American and Soviet strategies towards the "grey zones" of influence are spelled out, and the interpretation of regional conflicts in the Third World as the blind spot of détente is substantiated at the level of intentional policies. The argument shows how détente was structurally flawed, and calls for a careful examination of causal strands in the fluctuations of superpower accommodation.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bell, C.1977. The Diplomacy of Détente. The Kissinger EraLondon: Martin Robertson.
2.
Breslauer, G.W.1987. Ideology and Learning in Soviet Third World Policy. World PoliticsXXXIX(3), 429-448.
3.
Brutents, Karen1977. National Liberation Revolution Today, I-IIMoscow: Progress Publ.
4.
Buhite, R.D.1978. "Major Interests": American Policy Toward China, Taiwan, and Korea, 1945-50. Pacific Historical Review, August.
5.
Cassen, R. (ed.). 1985. Soviet Interests in the Third World. London: Sage.
6.
Cohen, R.1981. International Politics: The Rules of the Game. London: Longman.
7.
Copson, R.W. & Cronin, R.P.1987. The "Reagan Doctrine" and its prospects. SurvivalXXIX(1).
8.
Cutler, R.M., Després, L. & Karp, A.1987. The Political Economy of East-South Military Transfers . International Studies Quarterly31(3), 273-299.
9.
Gaddis, J.L.1982. Strategies of Containment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10.
Gaddis, J.L.1986. The Post-war International System: Elements of Stability and Instability, in Ø. Østerud (ed.), Studies of War and Peace, Scandinavian Library, Norwegian & Oxford University Press.
11.
Garthoff, R.L.1985. Détente and Confrontation. American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan. Washington, D.C.
12.
George, A. L. (ed.) 1983. Managing U.S.-Soviet Rivalry: Problems of Crisis Prevention. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
13.
George, A.L.1985. U.S.-Soviet Global Rivalry: Norms of Competition. Paper to XIIIth IPSA Congress, Paris, July.
14.
Golan, G.1987. Moscow and Third World National Liberation Movements: The Soviet Role. Journal of International Affairs40(2).
15.
Halliday, F.1983. The Making of the Second Cold War. London: Verso Editions.
16.
Halliday, F.1987. Beyond Irangate: The Reagan Doctrine and the Third World . Amsterdam: Transnational Institute .
17.
Hoffmann, S.1978. Primacy or World Order. American Foreign Policy since the Cold WarNew York: McGraw Hill .
18.
Hoffmann, S.1983. Dead Ends. American Foreign Policy in the New Cold War. Cambridge, Mass.
19.
Keal, P.1983. Unspoken Rules and Superpower Dominance. London: Macmillan.
20.
Kennan, G.F.1947. The Sources of Soviet Conduct. Foreign Affairs25.
21.
Kennan, G.F.1967. Memoirs: 1925-1950. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
22.
Kissinger, H.1979. White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
23.
Klare, M.T.1981. Beyond the "Vietnam Syndrome". U.S. Interventionism in the 1980s. Institute for Policy Studies.
24.
Klare, M.T.1986. La nouvelle doctrine d'intervention américaine. Le Monde Diplomatique384, Mars.
25.
Legvold, R.1978-79. The Super Rivals: Conflict in the Third World. Foreign Affairs57.
26.
Lippmann, W.1972. The Cold War: A Study in U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Harper.
27.
Litwak, R.S.1984. Détente and the Nixon Doctrine. Cambridge University Press.
28.
Litwak, R.S. & MacFarlane, S.N.1987. Soviet Activism in the Third World. SurvivalXXIX(1).
29.
Löwenthal, R.1984. The Soviet Union and the Third World: From Anti-Imperialism to Counter-Imperialism, in H. Bull & A. Watson (eds.) The Expansion of International Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
30.
Lundestad, G.1986. East, West, North, South. Major Developments in International Politics 1945-1986. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
31.
MacFarlane, S.N.1985. Superpower Rivalry and 3rd World Radicalism: The Idea of National Liberation. London & Sydney: Croom Helm.
32.
Matheson, N.1982. The "Rules of the Game" of Superpower Military Intervention in the Third WorldNew York: University Press of America.
33.
Menon, R.1986. Soviet Power and the Third World. New Haven: Yale University Press.
34.
Porter, B.D.1984. The USSR in Third World Conflicts. Cambridge University Press.
35.
Rosenfeld, S.S.1986. The Guns of July. Foreign Affairs, Spring.
36.
Schelling, T.C.1986. What Went Wrong With Arms Control? In Ø. Østerud (ed.), Studies of War and Peace. Scandinavian Library, Norwegian University Press/ Oxford University Press.
37.
Shearman, P.1987. Gorbachev and the Third World: An Era of Reform? Third World Quarterly9(4), October.
38.
Thome, C.1988. American Political Culture and the Asian Frontier, 1943-1973 . British Academy Publications.
39.
Ulyanovsky, R.1977. National Liberation: Essays on Theory and Practice. Moscow: Progress Publ.
40.
Valkenier, Elizabeth K.1985. The Soviet Union and the Third World: An Economic Bind . New York: Praeger.
41.
Windsor, P.1984. Superpower Intervention, in H. Bull (ed.) Intervention in World Politics. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
42.
Zagoria, D.1979. Into the Breach: New Soviet Alliances in the Third World . Foreign Affairs57.
43.
Zimmermann, W.1969. Soviet Perspectives on International Relations, 1956-1967 . Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
