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.
