- Timeline: January 2020 - December 2020
- Collaborations: the University of Hildesheim, the University of Innsbruck, the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History
- Keywords: Cold War, neutrality, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, CSCE, human rights, diplomacy
Abstract:
The CSCE follow-up meeting in Vienna (1986-1989) was the last step in the CSCE process launched by the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. This research project will seek to define the significance of Vienna for the transformation of East-West relations from the perspective of neutral and non-aligned states (the N+N): was the successful conclusion of the meeting merely an expression of this change, or was it a crucial contribution to ending the confrontation between the blocs? At the same time, the Vienna Concluding Document can be considered as a bridge to the new European order after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in October 1989. The project therefore also examines to what extent the hope for a new peaceful order in Europe was linked to developments in the Vienna negotiations.
