ABSTRACT
The following chapters will explore how realist thought developed in parallel with US foreign policy formulations. The policy concept of containment is the main subject of this chapter. The concept is commonly used in two different ways. Generally, containment designates the official US foreign policy approach in the Cold War, from 1947 to its end. But it is also used as a particular foreign policy principle which was part of every US East-West policy during the Cold War.
