The United States as a hegemonic power was challenged in the 1970s due to a series of changes that occurred around the world. The Western European market was emerging rapidly, and its economic development showed a renewed Europe that imported and exported in larger volumes than before World War II (WWII). On the military front, the Nixon administration recognized the need for a change in foreign policy. The world had gone from bipolar to multipolar and included not only the United States and the Soviet Union as before, but also China, Western Europe, and Japan as great powers capable of influencing the world. President Nixon and Henry Kissinger both believed that the United States could ensure its national security and advance its interests by establishing stronger diplomatic relations with great powers and through this controlling and influencing their decision-making. The United States wanted to be the center of this multipolar world, but this could only be achieved by downplaying the importance of ideology towards the Soviet Union and opening up to China, “(…) which the United States had...