More cohesive, still divergent : Western Europe, the United States, and the Madrid CSCE follow-up meeting

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the degree of transatlantic consensus on East-West relations and related policy through the lenses of the Madrid Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Follow-up Meeting, 1980–1983. While acknowledging some Western common actions and significant improvements in Western unity at Madrid, the chapter shows that significant differences persisted between the two sides of the Atlantic on how to approach the CSCE process, and East-WEst relations in general. Western cohesion at the CSCE meeting was more the result of the choice to preserve the Alliance in a period of severe strain than a convergence on common positions. In fact, the EC polity refused to espouse US confrontational approach and worked instead to preserve European détente and its most visible tool – the CSCE.