Overcoming the Crisis of Détente, 1979−1983. Coordinating Eastern Policies Between Paris, Bonn, and London
Résumé
At the end of the 1970s and into the early 1980s, Western détente policies appeared to be compromised by the degradation of East-West relations.¹ At this time, many West European leaders and diplomats even stopped using the term “détente.” Especially the European détente process as it had emerged during the first half of the 1970s, largely inspired by French concepts and determined by German aims, seemed doomed to failure after the Belgrade CSCE follow-up meeting in 1977/78.² At this time West European diplomats considered the Carter administration to be far too weak and unable to engage in a real dialogue