One More 'Lost Peace'?: Rethinking the Cold War After Twenty Years [Paperback]

Raffaele D'Agata is one of Italy's best known historians of the Cold War era.This book explores questions raised during a seminar discussion amongst a group of outstanding scholars. The result may be seen as a readable concentration of basic and meaningful insights that often defy a noticeable amount of conventional wisdom on the ground of careful and authoritative scholarly research.Were there any missed chances to build a more peaceful world than the present one after the Cold War? Were there any attempts at working out a more comprehensive and more cooperative way to overcome it? What was precisely at stake during the Cold War? What was really at stake for the 'losers' and what stakes did the 'winners' gain - if there are any 'winners' at all? Those questions were raised during a seminar where some outstanding scholars were invited to discuss them plainly before an audience of young students in an ancient, yet 'peripheral' Italian university. The result may be seen as a readable concentration of basic and meaningful insights that often defy a noticeable amount of conventional wisdom on the ground of careful and authoritative scholarly research.Part 1 Preface Part 2 Introduction Part 3 SECTION 1: WHAT WAS AT STAKE FOR THE LOSERS ? Chapter 4 Wilfred Loth Soviet Ambivalences, Western Overstatements Chapter 5 Odd Arne Westad Ideas and Power: The Soviet Inner Debate in the 1970s Chapter 6 Rodolfo Ragionieri An Actor in Search of a Theory: Explaining Gorbachev's Decision Making in 1989 Chapter 7 Panel: On Revisions and Comparisons Part 8 SECTION II: WHAT STAKES DID THE WINNERS GAIN? Chapter 9 Raffaele D'Agata Ostpolitik, Ero-Communism, and Détente: Responding to the World Crisis Chapter 10 Lawrence Gray An Uneasy Empire: Myth, Obsession, Identity and American Policy Chapter 11 Gian Paolo Calchi Novati The Defeat of the Third World: The Case of the Horn of Africa Chapter 12 Panel: The Security Issue and the Chances of Western Communication Part 13 The Contrlc{