ABSTRACT
In the absence of cataclysmic events such as wars and revolutions it is rarely easy to explain the crystallization of forces which produce major shifts in relations between nations. In the case of détente, though such a crystallization is identifiable in the sequence of agreements on nuclear arms and European security reached between 1971 and 1973, formal agreements do not exhaust what is meant by the term ‘détente. Détente was a process as much as a set of treaties. It emerged out of the competitive nature of superpower relations, and competition remained a feature of those relations even as détente took root. Some of the ingredients of détente were already present in the legacy of peaceful coexistence and the struggle to reach agreement on the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Other ingredients were present in the very patterns of conflict between the powers. The superpower relationship was a structured one, in which an element of mutuality underlay the competitive no less than the conciliatory impulses in superpower policy-making. The cold war nexus inclined each to be highly alert to the movements of the other. Our task is to explain why during the late 1960s and early 1970s both powers showed an interest in moving towards accommodation in areas where their differences had been especially critical – above all in nuclear arms and European security.
