The Transformation of American International Power in the 1970s

Barbara Zanchetta is a Senior Researcher at the Department of International History of the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. She is also a Scholar at the Machiavelli Center for Cold War studies in Italy. She is the co-author of Transatlantic Relations since 1945: An Introduction (2012).

'Zanchetta's stimulating account of American foreign policy in the 1970s shows how a feeling of US decline strengthened interest in arms control with the Soviet Union, but also blended with active measures to shore up the US position, as witnessed most clearly in the opening to China. What, however, tended to be overlooked in Washington was a local reality of increasing complexity, as seen in Vietnam and in Iran.' Geir Lundestad, Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute (1990–2014) and Emeritus Professor of international History, University of Oslo

• Introduction; Part I. The Remaking of American Global Power, 1969–76: 1. The Nixon administration and a 'moment of beginning'; 2. The diplomatic revolution: the China opening; 3. An 'era of negotiation' versus the 'supreme test': Nixon between SALT I and Vietnam; 4. 'Protect me': Nixon and the Shah of Iran; 5. Détente questioned: domestic challenges and international crisis; 6. The Ford (and Kissinger) administration; 7. Defending the dual track: SALT II, Angola, and the crisis of détente; Part II. Rethinking the Fall of Détente, 1977–80: 8. The Carter administration's ambitious agenda; 9. Initial shift: the Horn of Africa; 10. Recreating the strategic triangle: normalization with China and SALT II; 11. The loss of Iran; 12. Reaffirming containment: the Carter doctrine; Conclusion.