Böcker av Angela Romano

This edited volume analyses European socialist countries' strategy of engagement with the West and the European Economic Community in the long 1970s.The book focuses on a time when the socialist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe banked their hopes for prosperity and stability on enhanced relations with the West. Crossing the traditional differences among diverse fields of historiography, it assesses the complex influence of European and global processes of transformation on the socialist elites' reading of the international political and economic environment and their consequent decision-making. The volume also explores the debate in each country among and within the elites involved in policymaking as they elaborated this strategic view and coped with shortcomings and unexpected turns. A comparative analysis of national cases shows a shared logic and common patterns, together with national variations and a plurality of views on the desirability of exchanges with their capitalist neighbours and on the ways to promote them. The multinational coverage of seven countries makes this volume a starting point for anyone interested in each socialist state's foreign policy, intra-bloc relations, economic strategy, transformation and collapse, relations with the European Community and access to the EU.This book will be of much interest to students and researchers of Cold War Studies, European history, and International Relations.The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/European-Socialist-Regimes-Fateful-Engagement-with-the-West-National-Strategies/Romano-Romero/p/book/9780367356170, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) is usually overlooked in the literature on the Cold War and presented as the seal of détente. The Final Act came to be considered as the mere official recognition of the European balance for the sake of a fictitious dialogue and vague statements on the freer circulation of ideas, people and information. The emerging human rights movements in Eastern Europe then came as the unintentional consequence of a complete diplomatic and political failure. It is the opinion of the author that the West neither limited its action to a passive acceptance of a long-sponsored Soviet proposal nor sold out half a continent. The author carefully traces back the roots of the CSCE and argues that the Helsinki conference was also the result of the development in Western positions and a thoroughly conceived action, especially as far as the EC member states were concerned. She analyses the internal dynamics of the Western caucus and reveals the divergences on ideas, attitudes and goals that emerged between the United States and the European allies. In such a connection the author argues that the Hague Summit and the creation of the European Political Cooperation gave a boost to an active role of the EC states and the starting of serious pan-European talks. The author offers not only a thorough analysis of the Western experience at Helsinki, but also new seminal interpretations in the fields of Cold War history, transatlantic relations and the history of the European integration. By examining and reconciling all these aspects in a common context, this book contributes to more complete understanding of both détente and the CSCE.

This book explores the evolving political culture in Indonesia, by discussing the country's dominant political philosophies,then showing how those philosophies affect the working lives of ordinary Indonesian citizens.