Transcending the Cold War

Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990

Edited by Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds

First study of the contribution of summit meetings to the peaceful dénouement of the Cold War
Analyses the relationships between the superpowers and their views on arms control, explores their triangular relationship with China, and raises the German question
Offers fascinating insights into key statesman such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev, Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping
Highlights the neglected cultural dimensions of international diplomacy at the highest level
Addresses issues that still shape modern international relations
Provides a major multinational study, based on archives from both sides of the 'Iron Curtain'

Transcending the Cold War

Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990

Edited by Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds

Description

In 1989 and 1990 the map of Europe was redrawn without a war, unlike other great ruptures of the international order such as 1815, 1870, 1918, and 1945. How did this happen?

This major multinational study, based on archives from both sides of the 'Iron Curtain', highlights the contribution of international statecraft to the peaceful dissolution of Europe's bipolar order by examining pivotal summit meetings from 1970 to 1990. These are organized into three periods: 'Thawing', 'Living with', and 'Transcending' the Cold War.

The volume offers fascinating insights into key statesmen such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev, Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. It explores the central issues of the superpowers and arms control, their triangular relationship with China, and the seemingly intractable German question. Particular attention is devoted to the cultural dimensions of summitry, as performative acts for the media and as encounters with 'the Other' across ideological divides. All these threads are drawn together in a sweeping analytical conclusion.

Written in lively prose, Transcending the Cold War is essential reading for anyone interested not just in modern history but also current international affairs.

Transcending the Cold War

Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990

Edited by Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds

Introduction, Kristina Spohr & David Reynolds
PART I: Thawing the Cold War
1: Erfurt and Kassel, 1970, Benedikt Schoenborn & Gottfried Niedhart
2: Beijing, 1972, Yafeng Xia & Chris Tudda
3: Moscow, 1972, James Cameron
PART II: Living with the Cold War
4: Helsinki, 1975, Michael Cotey Morgan & Daniel Sargent
5: Bonn, Guadeloupe, and Vienna, 1978-1979, Kristina Spohr & David Reynolds
PART III: Transcending the Cold War
6: Geneva, Reykjavik, Washington, and Moscow, 1985-1988, Jonathan Hunt & David Reynolds
7: Beijing and Malta, 1989, Sergey Radchenko & Jeffrey A. Engel
8: Caucasus, 1990, Kristina Spohr
9: Conclusions - Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970-1990, Kristina Spohr & David Reynolds
Bibliography of Secondary Sources
Index

Transcending the Cold War

Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990

Edited by Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds

Author Information

Edited by Kristina Spohr, Associate Professor in International History, London School of Economics, and David Reynolds, Professor of International History, Cambridge University

Kristina Spohr is associate professor of International History at the LSE. German-Finnish by birth, she studied at the University of East Anglia, Sciences Po Paris, and Cambridge University, and also worked for a year in the NATO Secretary General's Private Office in Brussels. Her publications include The Global Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order (2016); Germany and the Baltic Question after the Cold War: The Development of a New Ostpolitik, 19892000 (2004); and At the Crossroads of Past and Present: Contemporary History and the Historical Discipline (co-editor, 2011). Her TV credits as presenter of historical documentaries for the German station ZDF include the five-part Geheimnisse des Kalten Krieges (2015) and Helmut Schmidt (2016).

David Reynolds is professor of International History at Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ's College. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005. He is the author of eleven books and three edited books, including The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century (2013), winner of the Hessell-Tiltman Prize, and Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century (2007). In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (2004) was awarded the Wolfson Prize. He has also written and presented thirteen historical documentaries for BBC TV, as well as the award-winning Radio 4 series 'America, Empire of Liberty'.

Contributors:

James Cameron
Jeffrey A. Engel
Jonathan Hunt
Michael Cotey Morgan
Gottfried Niedhart
Sergey Radchenko
David Reynolds
Daniel Sargent
Benedikt Schoenborn
Kristina Spohr
Chris Tudda
Yafeng Xia

Transcending the Cold War

Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990

Edited by Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds

Reviews and Awards

"High-level summit meetings were a staple feature of international politics throughout the 20th century, but at no time were they more frequent or meaningful than in the final two decades of the Cold War. Two distinguished historians, Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds, have compiled an excellent set of essays about the summits from 1970 to 1990 that both reflected and helped to bring about far-reaching changes in the international system. The contributions of the editors themselves and of other leading experts give readers a superb account of the way summits evolved and the impact they had during these momentous two decades." - Mark Kramer, Director, Cold War Studies, Harvard University

"Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds have boldly undertaken one of the most difficult tasks facing international historians — how to situate leaders within the great forces that shape the world and at the same time gauge how much difference those individuals make. In an elegantly written book which calls on a mass of evidence, they argue persuasively that the summits between key figures such as Khrushchev, Kennedy, Gorbachev or George Bush the elder really mattered. Engaging in face to face negotiations with friends and foes did much to prevent the Cold War from becoming a hot one and, at the end, enabled it to wind down peacefully. Transcending the Cold War is a model of diplomatic history which today's leaders could read with profit." - Margaret MacMillan, St Antony's College, Oxford University

"This is a lucid and compelling account of some of the most important summit meetings of the Cold War. It manages to combine a lively narrative and a wonderful compendium of crucial sources, to address the deeper question of how far individual leaders can be responsible for shaping the course of events, and how far they are shaped by them." - Bridget Kendall, Peterhouse, Cambridge; former BBC Diplomatic Correspondent

Transcending the Cold War

Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990

Edited by Kristina Spohr and David Reynolds

From Our Blog

When to talk and when to walk

In the spring of 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimea, the German chancellor Angela Merkel took to the air. She jetted some 20,000 kms around the globe, visiting nine cities in seven days ' from Washington to Moscow, from Paris to Kiev ' holding one meeting after another with key world leaders in the hope of brokering a peace-deal. Haunted by the centenary of 1914, Merkel saw summitry as the only way to stop Europe from 'sleepwalking' into another great war.

Posted on September 3, 2016

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