This is the 4th course of Specialisation 5: Europe: Integration and Disintegration
(English track International Relations/History).
After the divided Europe from pre-1945, the high degree of international organisation since the Second World War is very striking. The Cold War brought an era of multilateral collaboration at political, military and diplomatic level. Initially, parallel alliances formed on both sides of the Iron Curtain that seemed to be dominated by the relevant superpower, such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact. After a short time, the relationships between the blocks shifted, and a multilateral structure emerged that transcended the blocks, i.e. the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). This course provides a comprehensive analysis of the history of multilateralism during the Cold War. In addition, we call into question the common view of the US and the Soviet Union as superpowers who unilaterally made their mark on the Cold War, and even examine the role of the smaller member states and issues extending beyond the Iron Curtain. From the over-arching perspective of multilateralism, the students examine specific cases as part of individual research projects, e.g. the positions taken by various member states as part of the Warsaw Pact, NATO and the OSCE. In their papers, the students must base their views on their own research on primary sources in order to arrive at an independent analysis.
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