A lost chance for Balkan cooperation? The Romanian view on 'regional micro-détente', 1969-75

The Soviet-American détente raised many concerns among small states that Cold War bipolarity could be consolidated and that the superpowers' dialogue was just another form of excluding other countries from having a say in international affairs. In order to neutralise the effects of bipolarity,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCold war history Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 421 - 439
Main Author Stanciu, Cezar
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2019
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Balkans
Bipolarity
Cold War
Communism
Communists
Cooperation
Detente
détente
International cooperation
Multilateralism
Romania
Segmentation
Small states
Soviet Union
Superpowers
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Summary:The Soviet-American détente raised many concerns among small states that Cold War bipolarity could be consolidated and that the superpowers' dialogue was just another form of excluding other countries from having a say in international affairs. In order to neutralise the effects of bipolarity, many European governments advocated in favour of a multilateral détente. This paper argues that a similar process occurred in Eastern Europe and analyses the Romanian proposals for Balkan cooperation in the context of what was called a 'regional micro-détente'. Bucharest called for a multilateral high-level meeting of all Balkan states with the aim of devising formulas for improving cooperation and limiting the influence of the superpowers in the region. As Romania was engaged in serious divergences with the Soviet Union and also had good relations with the Chinese at the height of the Sino-Soviet polemic, Moscow regarded the Romanian proposals as directed against its interests in the peninsula and opposed it. In spite of its lack of results, the Romanian project demonstrates that the commitment to multilateral détente existed on both sides of the Iron Curtain and reveals the increasing fragmentation of the Communist bloc in the context of détente and the CSCE process.
ISSN:1468-2745
1743-7962
DOI:10.1080/14682745.2018.1524878