Two excellent German studies of the détente policies of the 1970s. In the thorough background survey edited by Schwarz and Meissner, experts on international law and relations examine détente as expounded and practiced by the U.S.S.R. and its Warsaw Pact allies, by the dissident communists (Yugoslav, Romanian and Eurocommunist), and by the states of the West. Royen's book looks at the Soviet strategy of détente, the contradictory nature of its several aims, and the difficulties and dilemmas it poses for the Soviet leadership.