Lukes Publishes Article on Cold War History
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an article in Diplomacy & Statecraft exploring the origins and the end of the Cold War.
In the article, titled “Was the Cold War Avoidable? Did the West Seek to Win It?: A Contribution to the Debate,” Lukes tackles two of the major questions in later twentieth-century international history: Was Moscow determined in 1945 to Sovietise the lands liberated from Nazism, and was the Cold War inevitable?
From the abstract:
Some wars end in conquest, others may lead to a temporary arrangement. The Cold War was unusual in that it was carried out as a truce, with neither side seeking victory. I will argue that, having endured several crises, such as those involving Berlin, Soviet rockets in Cuba, or the command post exercise ABLE ARCHER, both sides learned that their co–existence within the framework of the Cold War followed predictable patterns and was relatively safe. The Gorbachev reforms produced an understudied paradox: during the crucial years 1987–1989, it was the Soviet Union that pushed for liberal reforms in Eastern Europe. The western alliance had become comfortable with the status quo it had been publicly denouncing since Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech and was reluctant to do anything to upset the equilibrium. In the aftermath of 1989, several western politicians have claimed the laurels of victory over Communism. I maintain that Poland, Hungary, and ultimately all of the Soviet bloc countries liberated themselves, occasionally disregarding the pleas of officials in London, Washington, Paris, and Bonn.
The full article can be read on Diplomacy & Statecraft‘s website.
Igor Lukes is a past winner of the 1997 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2020 winner of the Gitner Prize for Faculty Excellence at the Pardee School. He writes primarily about Central Europe. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Read more about Professor Lukes on his faculty profile.