Exiting the Cold War, Entering a New World

edited by Daniel S. Hamilton and Kristina Spohr

This book explores how and why the dangerous yet seemingly durable and stable world order forged during the Cold War collapsed in 1989, and how a new order was improvised out of its ruins. It is an unusual blend of memoir and scholarship that takes us back to the years when the East-West conflict came to a sudden end and a new world was born.

In this book, senior officials and opinion leaders from the United States, Russia, Western and Eastern Europe who were directly involved in the decisions of that time describe their considerations, concerns, and pressures. They are joined by scholars who have been able to draw on newly declassified archival sources to revisit this challenging period.

Order a paperback copy soon via Brookings Institution Press or Amazon.

The book launch event at SAIS can be viewed on YouTube.

For Horst Teltschik’s keynote remarks, click here.

Download the full book by clicking here.

Authors include:

Anatoly Adamishin Liviu Horovitz Pavel Palazhchenko
John-Michael Arnold Stephan Kieninger Condoleezza Rice
Joachim Bitterlich Mart Laar Thomas W. Simons, Jr.
Rodric Braithwaite Roderic Lyne Kristina Spohr
David C. Gompert Markus Meckel Horst Teltschik
Cengiz Günay Wencke Meteling Philip Zelikow
Daniel S. Hamilton Adam Michnik
Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson Janusz Onyszkiewicz


List of Chapters:

Acknowledgments and Introduction by Daniel S. Hamilton and Kristina Spohr

Part I: Moving Out of Bipolarity

Chapter 1 – U.S. Soviet Policy in the Cold War’s Last Years by Thomas W. Simons, Jr.

Chapter 2 – The Endgame of the Reagan Doctrine: Democratic Transition in Nicaragua and Chaos in Afghanistan by John-Michael Arnold

Chapter 3 – Superpowers Walking a Tightrope: The Choices of April and May 1990 by Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice

Chapter 4 – The Soviet Collapse and the Charm of Hindsight by Rodric Braithwaite

Chapter 5 – The End of the Cold War: A View From the Trenches by Roderic Lyne

Chapter 6 – Bonfire of the Vanities: An American Insider’s Take on the Collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia by David C. Gompert

Part II: The German Question

Chapter 7 – Gorbachev and the GDR by Daniel S. Hamilton

Chapter 8 – “Say One Thing and Think Another:” Internal British Debates in the Late 1980s on Germany’s Potential Reunification by Liviu Horovitz

Chapter 9 – 1989–1990: The End of the Cold War and Challenges for Europe by Markus Meckel

Chapter 10 – The International Community’s Role in the Process of German Unification by Horst Teltschik

Chapter 11 – Money for Moscow: The West and the Question of Financial Assistance for Mikhail Gorbachev by Stephan Kieninger

Chapter 12 – Shifting Economic Assessments: Germany in a Changing World, 1987–1993 by Wencke Meteling

Part III: Freedom and Its Discontents

Chapter 13 – Estonia’s Path Out of the Cold War by Mart Laar

Chapter 14 – The Baltic Road to Freedom and the Fall of the Soviet Union by Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson

Chapter 15 – Poland and the End of the Cold War by Janusz Onyszkiewicz

Chapter 16 – 30 Years Ago, a Time of Joy and Hope by Adam Michnik

Part IV: Reflections

Chapter 17 – Why Did the Cold War End When and As It Did? by David C. Gompert

Chapter 18 – The End of the Cold War: 30 Years On by Anatoly Adamishin

Chapter 19 – Mikhail Gorbachev and the NATO Enlargement Debate: Then and Now by Pavel Palazhchenko

Chapter 20 – Turkey’s Changing Role After the Cold War: From Ideational to Civilizational Geopolitics by Cengiz Günay

Chapter 21 – Reflections on “The End of the Cold War?” by Joachim Bitterlich

Conclusions – The Exit from the Cold War: Lessons and Warnings by Kristina Spohr

About the Authors