Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy

From the French for “relaxing,” détente refers to the easing of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It came into prominence during the presidency of Richard Nixon, who championed a more cooperative attitude with the Soviets in order to achieve arms control, facilitate the American exit from Vietnam, and enhance joint efforts to secure peace in the Middle East. Détente was a subject of fierce criticism, especially from conservatives and hawkish liberals who regarded Nixon as selling out to the Soviet adversary. It appeared to come to an end with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but provided a template for Ronald Reagan, a former détente critic, to end the Cold War on peaceful terms by working productively with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

This was a term for the group of Egyptian officers, including Anwar Sadat, who formed the clique that would eventually take power in Egypt. After the Second World War, Egypt was nominally under the rule of King Farouk, who in practice was unable to dislodge foreign (especially British) influence. The officers had largely come from the middle and lower classes and despised the king’s system of distributing the nation’s wealth among his favorites. After Israel declared its statehood in 1948 and defeated Egypt’s attempt to overrun it, the Free Officers’ opposition morphed into a revolutionary conspiracy. Under the leadership of Gamel Abdul Nasser, they forced Farouk’s resignation and declared the Arab Republic of Egypt. Several Arab militaries would follow their example, including Iraq and Syria, and for decades Egypt would try to position itself as the leader of a pan-Arab coalition, until Sadat’s peace treaty with Israel shattered the coalition.

This is the name commonly used by several militant organizations who over the course of many decades have sought to free Ireland from what they view as foreign, colonial domination. It took root after the formation of the Republic of Ireland in opposition to a treaty that left the six counties of Northern Ireland (also called “Ulster”) in British hands. After suffering a series of defeats at the hands of both the Irish and British, the IRA faded into relative obscurity until the 1970s, when a splinter faction called the “Provisional” Irish Republican Army (a.k.a. “Provos”) led a lengthy and bloody terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland, Britain, and Europe. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher presided over the climax of the armed struggle in the late 1970s and early 1980s, followed by a gradual transition toward politics led by its affiliated party, Sinn Fein (“we ourselves”). Sinn Fein became a fully accepted political entity in 1998 and is now one of the most powerful political entities in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.