The End of the Cold War 19781991

1
The End of the Cold War 1978-1991

• Juhana Aunesluoma
• Lecturer in Contemporary History
• Mondays, 29 October- 3 December 2007, 12-14 pm
• Unioninkatu 35, Lecture room
• University of Helsinki
• www.valt.helsinki.fi/blogs/jauneslu/endofcoldwar.h
  tm

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End of an era

• end to what era?
• redrawing the map of Europe
• transformation of the international system
• end of the communist ideological challenge to the
  western democracies
• domestic political changes
• acceleration of globalization
• widening and deepening of European integration
• academic world and the shifting scholarly agenda
• the cold war as history academic research
  following first hand and eyewitness accounts
• explaining the outcome
• political science and IR the crisis of realism
  and the rise of constructivism
• the power of ideas
• various types of disciplines and scholars
  interested in the end of the cold war

3
Todays lecture

• introduction to the series of lectures
• course programme and course work
• introduction to cold war history
• the fall of détente

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Course aims

• discusses major developments in international
  relations during the last phase of the cold war
• superpower relations and their management
• European developments and perspectives
• peripheral conflicts and the global cold war
• how to explain the final outcome of the conflict?
• different interpretations
• the state of play in Cold War research

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Course programme

• 29.10. Introduction The Fall of Détente
• 5.11. Reagans Challenge The Second Cold War
  19791984
• 12.11. A Failed Renaissance Reforms in the
  Soviet Union 19841989
• 19.11. Ending the Cold War New Détente 19851989
• 26.11. The End of the Soviet Empire 19891991
• 3.12. Special theme Finland and the End of the
  Cold War 19811991

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Course work

• 3 credits
• 6 lectures and additional reading (from a reading
  list)
• a reflective and analytical study diary (based on
  the lectures AND the reading list, maximum length
  of the diary is 18 pages)
• attendance in at least one session in
  Aleksanteri-institute's Perestroika-conference
  29.11.1.12.2007.
• 5 credits
• all above
• 15 000 character essay to be submitted by the end
  of the 2nd period
• its presentation in a seminar during 3rd period
• prepared discussion points on another essay
  written by another participant in the seminar
• students are required to participate at least in
  two seminar sessions, but are welcome to join in
  all sessions
• all instruction and discussion is in English
• written work can be submitted in English, Finnish
  or Swedish

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List of compulsory reading

• 1. John Lewis Gaddis, Why did the Cold War Last
  as Long as it did?, in Odd Arne Westad (ed.),
  The Fall of Détente. Soviet-American Relations
  during the Carter Years (1997) 149166.
• 2. Odd Arne Westad, The Fall of Détente and the
  Turning Tides of History, in Odd Arne Westad
  (ed.), The Fall of Détente. Soviet-American
  Relations during the Carter Years (1997), 333.
• 3. Raymond L. Garthoff, The US role in Winding
  Down the Cold War, 198090, in Olav Njolstad
  (ed.), The Last Decade of the Cold War. From
  Conflict Escalation to Conflict Transformation
  (2004), 179195.
• 4. Alan P. Dobson, The Reagan Administration,
  Economic Warfare, and Starting to Close Down the
  Cold War, Diplomatic History, Vol 29, No 3 (June
  2005), 531556.
• 5. Celeste A. Wallander, Western Policy and the
  Demise of the Soviet Union, Journal of Cold War
  Studies Vol 5, No 4, (Fall 2003), 137177.

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List of compulsory reading

• 6. Archie Brown, Perestroika and the End of the
  Cold War, Cold War History Vol. 7, No 1
  (February 2007), 117.
• 7. Stephen G. Brooks William C. Wohlforth,
  Economic Constraints and the Turn towards
  Superpower Cooperation in the 1980s, in Olav
  Njolstad (ed.), The Last Decade of the Cold War.
  From Conflict Escalation to Conflict
  Transformation (2004), 83117.
• 8. Tony Judt, Nineteen Eighty-Nine The End of
  Which European Era?, in Vladimir Tismaneanu, The
  Revolutions of 1989 (1999), 165180.
• 9. Michael Cox Steven Hurst, His Finest
  Hour? George Bush and the Diplomacy German
  Unification, Diplomacy and Statecraft Vol 13, No
  4 (December 2002), 123150.
• 10. Jeremi Suri, Explaining the End of the Cold
  War. A New Historical Consensus?, Journal of
  Cold War Studies Vol 4, No 4 (Fall 2002), 6092.
• 11. Michael Cox, Another Transatlantic Split?
  American and European Narratives and the End of
  the Cold War, Cold War History Vol 7, No 1
  (February 2007), 121146.

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What was the cold war about?

• what is specific with the Cold War?
• a combination of levels and features
• ideology
• geostrategy
• nuclear weapons
• threats and threat perceptions
• fixed alliances
• the bipolar international system
• the stability of the system
• questions
• the long peace? how stable was the cold war
  international system?
• where were the cold wars origins?
• who were the main players?
• where was the cold war fought?
• what were the cold wars effects?

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From the brink to détente

• Cold War crises 1948-1962
• after series of crises and standoffs towards a
  managed superpower relationship from 1963 onwards
• détente 1966-1976/77
• superpower détente
• European détente
• bloc cohesion and leadership legitimacy
• 1968 Prague, turning point in the Vietnam war
• domestic pressures
• stabilising developments
• West-Germanys Ostpolitik
• Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
  1973-75
• SALT I 1972
• high level dialogue between the superpowers

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The fall of Détente I debate

• how and why did the 1970s détente fail?
• or how long it could have lasted?
• an interlude in the wider cold war history?
• factors and events
• domestic pressures
• third world events the rise of new communist
  regimes in unstable countries
• decision-making and personalities
• continuing the arms race
• traditional cold war mindsets
• structural changes in the international system
  global economic changes

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The fall of Détente events

• continuing the arms race
• ICBMs, new base areas, new types of missiles
  (range, number of warheads)
• the failure of SALT II
• the modernisation of Soviet nuclear forces SS-20
  decision in 1976
• Nato Euromissiles decision 1979
• CSCE-process stalls after 1977
• new conflicts Africa, Middle-East, Central
  America
• the final blow to détente Soviet invasion into
  Afghanistan December 1979
• US responses military sanctions and military
  buildup

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Conclusion

• no scholarly consensus on the reasons why détente
  turned again into cold war
• no consensus on détente itself. A real turning
  point in cold war history?
• domestic pressures and decision-making
• changing international environment
• potential conflicts in the thirld world
• the enduring force of traditional cold war
  mindsets

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Further reading

• John Lewis Gaddis We Now Know (1997)
• Jussi Hanhimäki Ironies and turning points
  Détente in Perspective in O. A. Westad (ed.)
  Reviewing the Cold War (2000).
• Raymond Garthoff Détente and Confrontation
  (1994)
• Odd Arne Westad The Global Cold War (2005)
• Odd Arne Westad (editor) The Fall of Détente
  (1997)
• several articles on various aspects of the
  renewal of cold war after 1978