Rapprochement

In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries. In the political scene of an individual country, rapprochement means the bringing together of diverse political factions as, for example, during metapolitefsi in Greece. Other examples of its use are the mending of relations between the United States under Richard Nixon and the People's Republic of China from 1972 onwards. Additionally, the period known as détente or 'relaxation' between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1970s was a time of rapprochement.

Rapprochement also refers to a human developmental milestone usually occurring between 15 to 24 months. The child moves away from and then returns to the mother for reassurance (Mahler).

Papers and articles

• Mahler, M.S. (1972) Rapprochement subphase of the separation individuation process. Psychoanal. Q., 41: 487-506.
• http://www.pep-web.org/
• Solan, Ronnie (1998) Narcissistic Fragility in the Process of Befriending the Unfamiliar. 1998 Psychoanal. Amer. J. Psycho-Anal., Vol. 58: (2)163-186. http://www.springerlink.com
• Solan, Ronnie (1999). The Interaction Between Self and Other: A Different Perspective on Narcissism. Psychoanal. Study of the Child, 54: 193-215.

External links

• The dictionary definition of rapprochement at Wiktionary