This volume examines to what extent the positive atmosphere created by the Helsinki Accords contributed to the change in political circumstances seen in the countries of Central Europe, under Soviet domination.
It focuses in particular on - firstly - a consequent new impetus to bolster human rights in international politics, as Western democracies - especially the US - integrated human rights concerns into its foreign policy relations with Soviet Bloc countries and - secondly how this Western embrace of human rights seemed to create new incentives for increased dissident activity in Central and Eastern Europe and from 1976 onward. Finally, the book reminds us of the significant role of the Helsinki Accords in developing democratic practices in Eastern European societies under Soviet domination in 1975-1989 and in creating the conditions for the peaceful transition to democratic government in the years that followed.
This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of the history of communism, post-Soviet, Russian, and central and East European politics, the history of human rights, and democratization.
This volume examines to what extent the positive atmosphere created by the Helsinki Accords contributed to the change in political circumstances seen in the countries of Central Europe, under Soviet domination.
Introduction - Human Rights and Political Dissent in Central Europe:
between the Helsinki Accords and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
1. U.S. Policy
toward Political Opposition in Poland (1975-1981)
2. Human Rights in British
Policy on Poland (1975-1979)
3. Basket III Provisions in French and the
Federal Republic of Germany policy toward the Polish Peoples Republic
(1975-1980): A Comparative Approach
4. Human Rights in the Policy of Sweden
toward Poland (1975-1981)
5. Between Human Rights and National Opposition:
Polish Opposition (1976-1989)
6. Exit, Voice, Duplicity: Human Rights in
Romanian Understanding (1975-1989)
7. The Catholic Church, Human Rights and
the Democratic Opposition in Communist Poland: The Case of Father Ludwik
Winiewski
8. The Role of Human Rights in the Situation of Slovak Church and
Persecution of Christians in Slovakia in (19751989)
9. John Paul II on Human
Rights in Poland
10. Political Opposition, Human Rights and Political Changes
in Czechoslovakia in 1989
11. Resistance, Dissent and Opposition
MovementsAntecedents of the Hungarian Regime Change
12. Revisiting the
Revolution of 1989: The End of the Communist Rule in Romania
13. The United
States and Hungary (1956-1990)
14. The Polish American Congress, Polish
Diaspora and Human Rights Movement in Poland
15. The Ideas of Human Rights
and Their Impact during and after Soviet Rule
Jakub Tyszkiewicz is Professor of History at the University of Wrocaw, Poland.
