The 1980s began with rumors of a war between superpowers that could unleash a Third World War. What to make of these rumors of the death of the detente and the beginning of a second cold war? In this paper those questions are analyzed. On the one hand, the European and Japanese allies perceive the decline in US military and economic power; on the other, the world left, including the Marxist currents, also perceives the decline of Moscow as the ideological center of Marxism-Leninism. For its part, the Third World has begun to search for new ways of expression, through which it can break its bonds of dependency. Everything seems to indicate that the new circumstances could be interpreted as signs of a return to the cold war, where two empires in decline resort to military force to prevent their disintegration.
Keywords:
Superpowers, Detente, New Cold War, Crisis of Imperialism, Third World
Author Biography
Gustavo Lagos Matus, Instituto de Estudios Internacionales, Universidad de Chile
Profesor del Instituto de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Chile. Ex ministro de justicia. Autor de numerosas obras sobre relaciones internacionales.
Lagos Matus, G. (1981). Entre la detente y la guerra fría : la crisis del destino manifiesto de las superpotencias. Estudios Internacionales, 14(56), p. 474–499. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.1981.16073
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