The Nuclear Revolution, Social Dissent, and the Evolution of Détente

Patterns of Interaction, 1957-74

Author(s): Andreas Wenger, Jeremi Suri
Editor(s): Kurt R. Spillmann, Andreas Wenger
Series: Zürcher Beiträge zur Sicherheitspolitik und Konfliktforschung
Issue: 56
Publisher(s): Forschungsstelle für Sicherheitspolitik und Konfliktanalyse, ETH Zurich
Publication Year: 2000
Publication Place: Zurich

This book examines the evolution of superpower détente during the 1960s and 1970s in the light of newly available archival material. The book offers a critical reappraisal of the history of the period, arguing that détente was more the product of a rapidly changing international system and a shift in domestic social and political thinking, rather than a stalemate between two superpowers. The authors maintain that while the nuclear revolution made détente possible, the nuclear peace that followed provided the seed for its failure.

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