Book Review: The Final Act – The Helsinki Accords and the Transformation of the Cold War, Michael Cotey Morgan

Introduction

Almost half a century after the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, Michael Morgan’s book on this major event in the middle of the Cold War in Europe may be seen as a courageous effort to provide an in-depth historical analysis of this highly remarkable process which paved the way for major changes in the post-World War II order in Europe. For this reviewer, who has closely observed and frequently participated in C/OSCE events himself since the 1980s, the book is a great reminder of this unique diplomatic process which was at the origin of what is now known as the Helsinki Process and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Very few people at the time would have thought that the Helsinki negotiations would culminate in the signing of this historic document nor that this would become the basis for the development of Europe’s largest security organization.

DOI: 10.58866/XZEI3875