The Cambridge History of the Cold War

by Leffler, Melvyn P.; Westad, Odd Arne

• ISBN13: 9781107602311
• ISBN10: 1107602319
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-20
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

This volume examines the evolution of the Cold War from the Helsinki Conference of 1975 until the Soviet collapse in 1991. Leading scholars analyze the economic, social, cultural, religious, technological, and geopolitical factors that shaped the policies that ended the Cold War, looking at the personalities and policies of Carter and Reagan, Brezhnev and Gorbachev, Thatcher, Kohl, and Deng Xiaoping. They show how events throughout the world shaped the evolution of Soviet-American relations and also explore the legacies of the super-power confrontation in a comparative and trans-national perspective. Penetrating chapters examine how the Cold War affected and was affected by the environment, the global economy, consumer capitalism, human rights and non-governmental organizations. The authors also deal with demographic trends, capital flows, multilateral institutions, and geopolitical configurations. This is international history at its best: emphasizing social, intellectual, economic and geostrategic trends without losing focus on personalities, politics, and human agency.

Table of Contents

The Cold War and the intellectual history of the late twentieth century

The world economy and the Cold War, 1970-1990

The rise and fall of Eurocommunism

The Cold War and Jimmy Carter

Soviet foreign policy from détente to Gorbachev, 1975-1985

Islamism, the Iranian revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

The collapse of superpower détente, 1975-1980

Japan and the Cold War, 1960-1991

China and the Cold War after Mao

The Cold War in Central America, 1975-1991

The Cold War and Southern Africa, 1976-1990

The Gorbachev revolution and the end of the Cold War

US foreign policy under Reagan and Bush

Western Europe and the end of the Cold War, 1979-1989

The East European revolutions of 1989

The unification of Germany, 1985-1991

The collapse of the Soviet Union, 1990-1991

Science, technology, and the Cold War

Transnational organizations and the Cold War

The biosphere and the Cold War

The Cold War and human rights

The Cold War in the longue durée: global migration, public health, and population control

Consumer capitalism and the end of the Cold War

An 'incredibly swift transition': reflections on the end of the Cold War

The restructuring of the international system after the Cold War

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