rollback

(noun)

The strategy of forcing change in the major policies of a state, usually by replacing its ruling regime. It contrasts with containment, which means preventing the expansion of that state; and with détente, which means a working relationship with that state.

Related Terms

(noun)

The strategy of forcing change in the major policies of a state, usually by replacing its ruling regime. It contrasts with containment, which means preventing the expansion of that state; and with détente, which means a working relationship with that state. Most of the discussions of rollback in the scholarly literature deal with United States foreign policy toward Communist countries during the Cold War. The rollback strategy was tried, and failed, in Korea in 1950, and in Cuba in 1961.

Related Terms

Examples of rollback in the following topics:

  • Containment to Rollback

    • Rollback is the rival doctrine to containment, the policy of merely stemming the expansion of communism .
    • However, this rollback strategy caused the Chinese to intervene and send in large armies.
    • The failure of the rollback policy, despite its advocacy by Gen.
    • Republican spokesman John Foster Dulles took the lead in promoting a rollback policy.
    • US success at Incheon encouraged UN and US forces to pursue a policy of rollback in Korea.

  • The Military Implementation of Containment

    • Containment represented a middle-ground position between detente (the easing of strained political relations) and rollback (forcing change in the major policies of a state, usually by replacing its ruling regime).
    • As a counter-offensive, MacArther launched the Inchon Landing, a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations.he success of the Inchon landing inspired the U.S. and the United Nations to adopt a rollback strategy to overthrow the Communist North Korean regime, thus allowing nationwide elections under U.N. auspices.
    • This interpretation allowed the episode to be used to confirm the wisdom of containment doctrine as opposed to rollback.
    • US success at Incheon encouraged UN and US forces to pursue a policy of rollback in Korea.

  • Containment

    • It represented a middle-ground position between détente and rollback.
    • Although President Dwight Eisenhower (1953–61) toyed with the rival doctrine of rollback, he refused to intervene in the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.
    • President Ronald Reagan (1981–89), denouncing the Soviet state as an "evil empire," escalated the Cold War and promoted rollback.

  • Containment in Vietnam

    • " President Johnson, the Democratic nominee, answered that rollback risked nuclear war, and won the general election by a wide margin and adhered closely to containment during the Vietnam War.

  • Containment in Foreign Policy

    • In 1952, Dulles called for rollback and the eventual "liberation" of eastern Europe.
    • " President Johnson, the Democratic nominee, answered that rollback risked nuclear war.

  • The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

    • It was distinguished from rollback by implicitly tolerating the previous Soviet takeovers in Eastern Europe.

  • Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

    • It was distinguished from rollback by implicitly tolerating the previous Soviet takeovers in Eastern Europe.