Synopsis
When the Helsinki Final Act was signed in 1975, no one anticipated the extraordinary impact it would have in undermining Communist rule in Eastern Europe and bringing down the Berlin Wall. Dr. Korey's pioneering study explores both the developments in the Helsinki Process that led to this historic transformation and the United States's leadership role, which proved central to its success. The Promises We Keep delves into the fascinating subject of the United States' initial lack of leadership and the way in which its remarkable policy turnaround was quickly effected and consistently followed.
The Helsinki Process is by no means at an end. Dr. Korey also examines the xenophobic nationalisms tearing at the fabric of European society, and which pose new and frightening human rights challenges.
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About the Author
Dr. William Korey has taught at Long Island University, City College of New York, and Columbia University and has been visiting professor at Yeshiva University and Brooklyn College.
Reviews
Korey, director of international policy research for B'nai B'rith from 1976 to 1990, has written a book for experts, an extensively researched, blow-by-blow account of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), launched in Helsinki in 1975. While the Soviet Union, the CSCE's main sponsor, had thought it would legitimate Soviet power in Eastern Europe, in fact its tenets ultimately led to pressure on the Soviets about their human rights record and arguably helped foster the fall of communism. Korey has examined documents and interviewed diplomats to reconstruct CSCE debates, meetings and decisions. He describes Henry Kissinger's skepticism abut the principles of the Helsinki Final Act; the growth of Andrei Sakharov's monitoring organization, the Helsinki Watch Group, in the Soviet Union; the signatories' agreements to increased rights to religious practice and emigration in 1989 Vienna negotiations; and the contribution of U.S. negotiator Max Kampelman. Though Korey sees the CSCE as a success, he notes that neither it nor any other international organization has been able to curb violence in the former Yugoslavia and other European ethnic flashpoints.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The creation of international agreements can be pretty dull stuff, with tedious debates often circuitous in nature. Happily, such is not the case here. Korey, long-time Director of International Policy Research for B'nai B'rith and a human rights specialist, has produced an important and timely analysis of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and its influence on the ultimate breakup of Soviet control over Eastern Europe. The Soviets were initially interested in using the Helsinki agreement to legitimize Soviet territorial dominance in Europe, and neither Richard Nixon nor Henry Kissinger were much interested in the human rights aspects of the agreement. Over time, however, the significance of human rights protection and the concomitant right of free movement across borders led to profound changes in Europe by the end of the 1980s. Korey's study is basic to understanding the role of the Helsinki deliberations upon recent European history. For academic collections.
- Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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The Promises We Keep: Human Rights, the Helsinki Process, and American Foreign Policy
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