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| containment | the name of a U.S. foreign policy designed to contain or block the spread of Soviet policy. Inspired by George F. Kennan, containment was expressed in the Truman Doctrine and implemented in the Marshall Plan and the North American Treaty Organization (NATO)alliance |
| decolonization | the process by which colonies gained their independence from the imperial European powers after World War II. |
| De-Stalinization | the policy of liberalization of the Stalinist system in the Soviet Union. As carried out by Nikita Khruschchev, de-Stalinization meant denouncing Joseph Stalin's cult of personality, producing more consumer goods, allowing greater cultural freedom, and pursuing peaceful coexistence with the West. |
| Brezhnev doctrine | assertion that the Soviet Union and its allies had the right to intervene in any socialist country whenever they saw the need. The Brezhnev Doctrine justified the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. |
| detente | the relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Detente was introduced by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon. Examples of detente include the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), expanded trade with the Soviet Union, and President Nixon's trips to China and Russia. |
| Solidarity | A Polish labor union founded in 1980 by Lech Walesa and Anna Walentynowicz. Solidarity contested Communist Party programs and eventually ousted the party from the Polish government. |
| Glasnost | Policy initiated by Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s. Glasnost resulted in a new openness of speech, reduced censorship, and greater criticism of Communist Party policies |
| Perestroika | an economic policy initiated by Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s. Meaning "restructuring", perestroika called for less government regulation and greater efficiency in manufacturing and agriculture. |
| welfare state | a social system in which the state assumes primary responsibility for the welfare of its citizens in matters of health care, education, employment, and social security. Germany was the first European country to develop a state social welfare system. |
