détente

n.

1. A relaxing or easing, as of tension between rivals.
2. A policy toward a rival nation or bloc characterized by increased diplomatic, commercial, and cultural contact and a desire to reduce tensions, as through negotiation or talks.

[French. See detent.]

détentist dé·tent'ist n.

(day-TANT)

noun
An easing of tension between rivals.

Etymology
From French détente (loosening, relaxation). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch) that's also the source of tense, tendon, tenor, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, and hypotenuse

Usage
"Threats won't ease anyone's fears. Perhaps it's time to give detente a chance. " Mr. Lieberman's Rash Rhetoric; The Hartford Courant (Connecticut); Jun 13, 2007.

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For more information on détente, visit Britannica.com.

Détente (a French word meaning release from tension) is the name given to a period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 and took decisive form when President Richard M. Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I. Brezhnev, in Moscow, May 1972. Both countries stood to gain if trade could be increased and the danger of nuclear warfare reduced. In addition, Nixon--a candidate for reelection--was under fire at home from those demanding social change, racial equality, and an end to the Vietnam War. The trip to Russia, like his historic trip to China a few months earlier, permitted him to keep public attention focused on his foreign policy achievements rather than his domestic problems. Nixon's trip to China had also heightened the Soviets' interest in détente; given the growing antagonism between Russia and China, Brezhnev had no wish to see his most potent rivals close ranks against him.

On May 22 Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Moscow. He and Brezhnev signed seven agreements covering the prevention of accidental military clashes; arms control, as recommended by the recent Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (salt); cooperative research in a variety of areas, including space exploration; and expanded commerce. The salt treaty was approved by Congress later that summer, as was a three-year agreement on the sale of grain to the Soviets. In June 1973, Brezhnev visited the United States for Summit II; this meeting added few new agreements, but did symbolize the two countries' continuing commitment to peace. Summit III, in June 1974, was the least productive; by then, the salt talks had ground to a halt, several commercial agreements had been blocked in Congress because of Soviet treatment of Jews, and the Watergate investigation was approaching a climax. Nixon's successor in the talks, President Jimmy Carter, supported salt ii, but also pressed a military buildup and a human rights campaign, which cooled relations between the countries. With the election of Ronald Reagan, who emphasized military preparedness as the key to Soviet-American relations, détente as Nixon had envisioned it came to an end.

See also Cold War.

By détente (a French word for "release from tension"), historians refer to the period of gradually improved relations between the USSR and the West, during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The first signs of détente appeared shortly after Josef Stalin's death, with the signature of the peace treaty granting Austrian independence in May 1955 and the Geneva summit in July that opened the way for dialogue between the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France. In March 1956, during the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU, "peaceful co-existence" became the "baseline of Soviet Foreign policy." Competition with the West was not over, but, for Nikita Khrushchev, this competition had to be ideological, economic, and technological rather than military. The USSR kept however improving its military potential (it fired its first inter-continental ballistic missile in August 1957 and launched the first Sputnik the following October) and, regarding the Third World, all means of influence were still contemplated. This new approach to international relations led Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin to visit Western countries (Britain in 1956, the United States. in 1959, and France in 1960) and to participate in the Paris summit meeting in 1960. However, détente did not go without tensions and crises, such as the first Berlin Crisis in 1958, the U-2 incident in May 1960, the second Berlin Crisis in August 1961 that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.

The Cuban crisis was actually a turning point for détente: it led Washington and Moscow to establish a hotline, so as to prevent the risk of a nuclear war that could arise from a lack of communications, and in August 1963 the USSR signed with the United States and Great Britain the first Nuclear Test Ban treaty. Despite Khrushchev's dismissal in October 1964 and the promotion of a new leadership with Leonid Brezhnev, Nikolai Podgorny, and Alexei Kosygin, détente was not only maintained but fostered, for the Soviets perceived it as the best way to achieve their two major objectives: obtaining the official recognition of the post-World War II European territorial status quo and improving the standard of living of the population, by devoting more resources to civil production than to the military-industrial complex and by importing Western advanced technologies and products.

And indeed, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, détente became a multilateral process as well as a bilateral one.

As a bilateral process between the USSR and the United States, détente focused primarily on strategic issues; it first led in July 1968 to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, in May 1972, to the SALT I treaty limiting strategic arms; however, détente dealt also with economic matters: During his historical trip to the Soviet Union, President Nixon signed several agreements on cooperation and trade, including grain exports to the Soviet State; one year later, new agreements were signed during Brezhnev's visit of June 1973 to the United States. This Soviet-American détente was not limited to domestic questions, as shown by the active cooperation displayed by the two super-powers in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

But détente started involving West-European governments as well. In 1966 the French President Charles de Gaulle visited the USSR to promote "détente, entente, and cooperation" and give détente a broader content, extended to cultural and human questions. Three years later Chancellor Willy Brandt, previously mayor of West Berlin, engaged West Germany in the Ostpolitik, a policy of opening to the East which led to concrete achievements: in 1970, West Germany concluded two treaties, one with Poland and the other with the USSR, that recognized the current German frontiers, notably the Oder-Neisse border, gave up all claims to the lost lands, and implicitly recognized the existence of East Germany. In 1972, the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France signed an agreement on Berlin. These treaties paved the way to the official admission of the two Germanies to the United Nations in 1973.

Détente was also a truly multilateral process: In November 1972, thirty-five European countries, the United States, and Canada opened the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). In August 1975, the Helsinki Final Act recognized the post-World War II borders and adopted declarations encouraging Western-Eastern trade and cultural exchanges as well as promoting human rights and freedom of movement.

Despite these successes, détente declined and faded in the second half of the seventies. The active support of the USSR to Marxist revolutionary movements in the Third World, its repeated violations of the Helsinki Final Act, its intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979, the euromissiles question, and the Polish crisis in 1980 all contributed to a revival of the Cold War.

Bibliography

Garthoff, Raymond L. (1994). Détente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan, Washington DC: Brookings Institution.

Petro, Nicolai N., and Rubinstein, Alvin Z. (1997). Russian Foreign Policy, From Empire to Nation-State. New York: Longman.

—MARIE-PIERRE REY

(day-tahnt)

A period of lessening tension between two major national powers, or a policy designed to lessen that tension. Détente presupposes that the two powers will continue to disagree but seeks to reduce the occasions of conflict.

IN BRIEF: n. - The easing of strained relations (especially between nations).

Dansk (Danish)
n. - afspænding

Nederlands (Dutch)
detente (ontspanning in politieke situatie)

Français (French)
n. - détente

Deutsch (German)
n. - Entspannung

Italiano (Italian)
distensione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - distensão (f)

Español (Spanish)
n. - relajación de la tensión (entre países)

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - avspänning

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) انخفاض في التوتر الخطر بين الدول خاصه‏

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