| Abstract: | The critical question whether or not detente is a prologue to peace between the superpowers is seldom confronted with scientific rigour. The authors explore the hidden developmental set of assumptions which are built into the mainstream western view of the relations between deterence and detente and proceed to extrapolate these assumptions mathematically further. The results of the exercise suggest that detente will eventually lead to a stable peace but not before an indeterminate (probably long drawn out) process of rhythmical oscillation between several periods of detente and several periods of cold war. |
