Helsinki 1975 and the Transformation of Europe

It was in Europe that the Cold War reached a decisive turning point in the 1960s, leading to the era of détente. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), with its Final Act in Helsinki in August 1975, led to a rapprochement between East and West in the fields of security, economy and culture. This volume offers a pilot study in what the authors perceive as the key issues within this process: an understanding over the ‘German problem’ (balancing the recognition of the post-war territorial status quo against a formula for the eventuality of a peaceful change of frontiers) and the Western strategy of transformation through a multiplication of contacts between the two blocs. Both of these arguments emerged from the findings of an international research project on ‘Détente and CSCE in Europe, 1966-1975’, funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung and headed by the two editors.

Oliver Bange is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Mannheim and the coordinator of the project ‘CSCE and the Transformation of Europe’ funded by the VolkswagenStiftung. He holds a Ph.D. in international history from the London School of Economics (1997) and is the author of The EEC Crisis of 1963: Kennedy, Macmillan, de Gaulle and Adenauer in Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan 2000). He completed his habilitation on Ostpolitik and Détente in Europe – The Beginnings, 1966-1969, due to be published in 2009.

Gottfried Niedhart is a retired Professor of Modern History at the University of Mannheim and at present heading an international research project on " Détente and CSCE in Europe 1966-1975". He has published widely on English and German history and on the history of international relations mainly in the twentieth century and more recently on East–West relations. His publications include Geschichte Englands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Munich 2004) and Die Außenpolitik der Weimarer Republik (Munich 2006).

“[All contributions]are valuable to the international history of détente in the 1960s and 1970s...this volume lays important groundwork …for a future history of the CSCE.”  ·  German History

“The key analytical concept giving the volume its coherence is that of communication…The book is a thorough and useful addition to the literature.”  ·  European History Quarterly