The CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1972-1990

From its inception, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) provoked controversy. Today it is widely regarded as having contributed to the end of the Cold War. Bringing together new and innovative research on the CSCE, this volume explores questions key to understanding the Cold War: What role did diplomats play in shaping the 1975 Helsinki Final Act? How did that agreement and the CSCE more broadly shape societies in Europe and North America? And how did the CSCE and activists inspired by the Helsinki Final Act influence the end of the Cold War?

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Chronology of CSCE Meetings Introduction Nicolas Badalassi and Sarah B. Snyder PART I: DIPLOMATS, DIPLOMACIES AND THE MAKING OF THE CSCE Chapter 1. The Human Dimension of the CSCE, 1975–1990 Andrei Zagorski Chapter 2. Executors or Creative Deal-Makers?: The Role of the Diplomats in the Making of the Helsinki CSCE Martin D. Brown and Angela Romano Chapter 3. From Talleyrand to Sakharov: French Diplomacy in Search of a ‘Helsinki Effect’ Nicolas Badalassi Chapter 4. ‘Human Rights, Peace and Security Are Inseparable’: Max Kampelman and the Helsinki Process Stephan Kieninger PART II: THE TRANSNATIONAL PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ROLE OF DISSIDENCE Chapter 5. The Committee of Concerned Scientists and the Helsinki Final Act: ‘Refusenik’ Scientists, Détente and Human Rights Elisabetta Vezzosi Chapter 6. Seeing the Value of the Helsinki Accords: Human Rights, Peace and Transnational Debates about Détente, 1981–1988 Christian P. Peterson Chapter 7. The Importance of the Helsinki Process for the Opposition in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Peace Movements in the 1980s Jacek Czaputowicz Chapter 8. The Limits of Repression: Soviet-Bloc Security Services vs. Transnational Helsinki Networks, 1976–1986 Douglas Selvage Chapter 9. Helsinki at Home: NGOs, the Helsinki Final Act and Politics in the United States, 1975–1985 Carl J. Bon Tempo PART III: THE POLITICS OF THE CSCE IN EUROPE Chapter 10. European Détente and the CSCE: Austria and the East-Central European Theatre in the 1970s and 1980s Maximilian Graf Chapter 11. Saving Détente: The Federal Republic of Germany and the CSCE in the 1980s Matthias Peter Chapter 12. Transformation by Linkage?: Arms Control, Human Rights and the Rift between Moscow and East Berlin in the Late 1980s Oliver Bange Chapter 13. CSCE: Albania the Outsider in European Political Life Hamit Kaba Conclusion Nicolas Badalassi and Sarah B. Snyder Index

About the Author :
Nicolas Badalassi is Associate Professor of Contemporary History at the Institut d’Etudes politiques d’Aix-en-Provence (Sciences Po Aix). He is the author of the award-winning En finir avec la guerre froide: La France, l’Europe et le processus d’Helsinki, 1965–1975 (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2014). He has also co-edited with H. Ben Hamouda the publication Les pays d’Europe orientale et la Méditerranée, 1967-1989 (Paris: Cahiers Irice, 2013).

Review :
“The authors add to the significant literature available on the Cold War, its history, and explanations for how it ended. In the contested debate over the CSCE’s contribution, these authors add evidence to the side arguing its significant role in ending the Cold War…This is a fundamental book for historians, diplomats, and political scientists who would like a reference of how international organizations come out of diplomatic negotiations and seemingly temporary gatherings.” • Canadian Slavonic Papers “The volume is of the highest importance, which manages to encompass some of the most significant positions and strategies, compared to the respective political context, which explains very well the evolution and political context of today.” • Journal of Global Politics & Current Diplomacy “The various chapters in this book provide useful additional insight on the CSCE and especially the human dimension of the process, including some issues that have not really been significantly studied to date and new data from archives on a number of issues.” • H-Net “The contributions, without exception based on sound sources, some of them of extraordinary originality and very inspirational for research, make the reading of them for everybody interested in the KSZE and East-West détente very rewarding.” • Sehepunkte “This excellent volume stands at the forefront of scholarship in the field and will certainly make an important contribution to our understanding of the complex developments that led to the end of the Cold War.” • Aryo Makko, Stockholm University and Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study “The essays in this volume illuminate just what the Helsinki process entailed and help explain the multidimensional ways in which it facilitated the end of the Cold War—everything from building bridges between groups to keeping dialogue going when the Cold War refroze in the early 1980s and connecting lower-level politics to high politics.” • Jaclyn Stanke, Campbell University “Bold in ambition and scope, this collection highlights transnational history at its finest. It covers an impressive amount of terrain, allowing for a more layered and nuanced understanding of the CSCE.” • Garret Martin, American University