Dynamic Détente

The United States and Europe, 19641975

By (author) Stephan Kieninger

Not available to order

Publication date:

23 March 2016

Length of book:

388 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498532426

This book examines the dynamic evolution of Western détente policies which sought to transform Europe and overcome its Cold War division through more communication and engagement. Kieninger challenges the traditional Cold War narrative that détente prolonged the division of Europe and precipitated America’s decline in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Rather, he argues that policymakers in the U.S. Department of State and in Western Europe envisaged the stability enabled by détente as a precondition for change, as Communist regimes saw a sense of security as a prerequisite for opening up their societies to Western influence over time. Kieninger identifies the Helsinki Accords, Lyndon Johnson’s bridge building, and Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik as efforts aimed at constructive changes in Eastern Europe through a multiplication of contacts, communication, and cooperation on all societal levels. This study also illuminates the longevity of America’s policy of peaceful change against the background of the nuclear stalemate and the military status quo.
Kieninger’s account is persuasively argued and deeply researched.... Dynamic Détente is rooted in impressive archival and primary-source research in American state files and personal papers and a handful of German and North Atlantic Treaty Organization records.... [A] fine contribution to a growing body of work on U.S.-European relations and U.S. policy making that highlights the origins, complexities, and contradictions of détente