cultural thaw
Softening of relations
A cultural thaw is a period when strict government controls on artistic expression, intellectual discourse, or social life relax after a time of repression.
The term evokes ice melting—rigidity giving way to movement.
It often describes Soviet-era relaxations under Khrushchev or similar openings in other authoritarian states: The cultural thaw allowed previously banned writers to publish.
A thaw may be temporary, followed by renewed restrictions.
- détenteEasing of strained relations
- glasnostSoviet transparency reform
- perestroikaSoviet reform initiative
- openingGap or start
- opening upBecoming less guarded
liberalization · rapprochement · warming · reform · relaxation · normalization · diplomatic · cold war · exchange · softening · reconciliation · dialogue · easing · breakthrough · defrost · melting · artistic freedom · freedom
- CzechoslovakiaPrague, Bratislava, Bohemia, Slovakia, Moravia
- Eastern Bloc Literaturesamizdat, antifascism, divided Germany
cultural thawcrackdown
Sudden strict enforcement
censorship · suppression · clampdown · thought control · persecution
cultural thawrefreeze
Solidify by cold again
chill · hardening · retrenchment · rollback · regression
cultural thawCold War
Prolonged East-West standoff
iron curtain · cultural isolation · boycott · diplomatic freeze · insularity
cultural, culture, cultures, cultured, culturing, cultivate, cultivated, cultivation, cultivator