Organizers: CRC 923: Bedrohte Ordnungen (Threatened Order. Societies under Stress), Project D04: The USA and the Soviet Union: Transformations of a Global Competition, 1975-1989, University of Tübingen, Germany

Date: 13-15 September 2013
Location: Blaubeuren, Germany
Deadline: 15 March 2013

The year 1983 marked a dramatic climax in the “Second Cold War”. Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire”, announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, and a Korean passenger plane was shot down by Soviet Air Defense Forces. In November, Soviet-American tensions escalated during the NATO command post exercise Able Archer 83. High-ranking Soviet military and intelligence officers feared that the West was preparing for a nuclear first strike. Thus, some historians consider this crisis the most dangerous moment in the Cold War since the Cuban missile crisis.

The events of 1983 mark the culmination of tensions, which had already started with the crisis of détente in the 1970s. However, the beginning of a new American-Soviet rapprochement also made the year a turning point in the Cold War.

Understanding 1983 as a watershed year thus points to phases of confrontation and cooperation in East-West relations. This workshop takes the 30th anniversary of these events as an opportunity to discuss new approaches to the Cold War of the 70s and 80s.

The workshop intends,
- to investigate which factors lead to the crisis of détente and to the new rapprochement starting in 1983.
- to take a look at communication and mutual links across the blocks and across established boundaries of academic disciplines.
- to overcome the traditional focus on Europe and the superpowers and regard the Cold War as a global phenomenon. - to study domestic and foreign policy as entangled, rather than separate, fields.
- to reflect on the entanglement of social, political, and economic transformation processes with the Cold War of the 1970s and 1980s.

We especially invite contributions that encompass transnational and cultural perspectives on the Cold War, and/or consider actors who have been neglected in historical research.

Junior researchers and young academics (advanced graduate and postdoc level) are kindly invited to apply with a short abstract (approx. 300 words) by 15 March 2013. The conference will be held in English.
The CRC 923 ‘Threatened Order. Societies under Stress’ will cover travel expenses and accommodation.

Contact: Martin Deuerlein and Roman Krawielicki, CRC 923,University of Tübingen martin.deuerlein@uni-tuebingen.de