Reviewing the Cold War: Approaches, Interpretations, Theory

Summary:

The Nobel Institute is planning a major symposium in the summer of 1998 in which we want to deal with interpretations, approaches, and theory in our understanding of the Cold War.  The main purpose of the symposium is to review developments in the field of Cold War history since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  The organizers are particularly preoccupied with furthering the discussion of interdisciplinary issues and overall interpretative frameworks.

The sudden appearance of the inner historical materials of the former Eastern bloc has, over the past several years, transformed the ways in which we may study the central international conflict of the late 20th century.  Numerous new works of scholarship have appeared, or are in the process of appearing, where these new materials are put to use, often in combination with recently declassified documents from Western countries.  A new historiography seems to be in the making, with main contributions often coming from younger scholars with multi-language training and multi-cultural sensitivities.

Participants:

Francis Sejersted, Geir Lundestad, Odd Ame Westad, John Lewis Gaddis, Melvyn Leffler, Anders Stephanson, Alexander Chubarian, Jonathan Haslam, Richard Ned Lebow, William Wohlforth, Torbjørn Knutsen, Stein Tønnesson, Rey Koslowski, Douglas Macdonald, Mark Bradley, Kristian Gerner, Aaron Friedberg, Wilffled Loth, Constantine Pleshakov, Shu Guang Zhang, Olav Njølstad, Antonio Varsori, James Hershberg, Jussi Hanhimåki, Vladislav Zubok, Chen Jian, Anne Deighton, Voftech Mastny.