Defrosting the Cold War and Beyond: An Introduction to the Helsinki Process, 1954-2022

This volume tells the story of the Helsinki Process from the immediate post-war period through the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975 to the collapse of the Soviet empire and up to the present day. Treating it as a single narrative in the search for a just and stable order in Europe adds significantly to the copious but mostly narrowly focused academic literature on the subject.

Divided into 26 chapters, it can also serve as a handy reference book for different phases of the story. Chapter 22 examines the continuing debate over whether the West is responsible for the breakdown of relations with Russia and why the Helsinki Process failed to avert it. Chapter 26 asks whether the remarkable multilateral diplomacy that produced the Final Act could be replicated in other troubled areas today. It then offers 12 lessons that may be drawn from that experience.

Defrosting the Cold War and Beyond: An Introduction to the Helsinki Process, 1954–2022 will help students and others understand the long arc of the Helsinki process, its place in European history and its continuing relevance today. Drawing on the first-hand experience of the author and other sources, the book corrects common errors and identifies some of the key people involved.

Richard Davy graduated in Modern History from Magdalen College, Oxford University. After teaching in Italy and training in Edinburgh, he worked for nearly 30 years on The Times (London) as foreign correspondent in Germany, Washington and Eastern Europe, and as Chief Foreign Leader Writer specialising in East–West relations. He covered much of the Prague Spring of 1968 and the long negotiations that produced the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. Later he was a leader writer for The Independent, a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and a Senior Member of St Antony’s College, Oxford University.