ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the course of US–Romanian relations during the years of the Carter presidency with a view to portray the dynamics of the bilateral relationship in the context of the policy of differentiation, and the effect that a series of international developments had on it. The underlying assumption, spanning throughout this four-year period, is that there is a remarkable continuity between Carter and the preceding Kissingerian period under Nixon and Ford. Despite the declared statements on the centrality of human rights in the new administration’s foreign policy, their conflict with certain strategic and political interests would quite often downgrade them to a secondary level. The Romanian case serves as an example of the constant dilemma of prioritizing between the former or the latter in a time when the fragile foundations of détente were on the verge of collapse.