ABSTRACT
In the Soviet view detente was made possible by the Soviet attainment of a nuclear retaliatory capability in the early 1960s and a rough strategic parity by the 1970s. The Soviet leaders had felt keenly their inferiority in overall and strategic military power, and greatly welcomed this development, which they had long sought. In the Soviet perception, the United States had used its military superiority to build "positions of (superior) strength" and, more directly, to threaten and on occasion to use military power to advance its own interests. Peaceful coexistence has been a central feature of the Soviet conception of detente. The Soviet leaders believe that the imperialists have a proclivity to resort to military force and war to extend their strategic, political, and economic interests. Soviet ideology, positing a continuing conflict between communism (socialism) and capitalism (imperialism), provides a natural basis for Soviet acceptance of competition along with cooperation as a part of détente and peaceful coexistence.
