Programme de recherche de la Sorbonne sur la guerre froide – ColdWar

This project, entitled ' The Sorbonne Cold War Studies Project' (Programme de recherche de la Sorbonne sur la guerre froide), has two main objectives : first, to develop and promote a new interpretation of the history of the Cold War by granting Europe'long left in the background by Anglo-Saxon historiographical studies which primarily focus on the American-Soviet dimension'its legitimate place ; second, to work towards valorizing the work done by French and European historians on an international level, so as to allow them to obtain recognition which they too often are denied on a scene which remains dominated by Anglo-Saxon historians and international relations specialists. These efforts are all the more necessary since the Cold War, even twenty years after its end, continues to be the most studied issue in the historiography of modern international relations and also serve as a major reference point for international relations specialists with backgrounds in social or political sciences. It is for this reason that we intend to further increase those efforts to grant French specialists the recognition they are due on the international scene by building upon the dynamics initiated by the research study conducted from 2004 to 2008 on 'The End of the Cold War and Europe,' now coming to its close. To pursue these objectives, we present the following two proposals : On the one hand, to gather Cold War historians around an international seminar organized in Paris at the Sorbonne. This would contribute to reinforcing a scientific European and international network of researchers working on the Cold War and facilitate intellectual exchanges among researchers, thus allowing an increase in the European and international mobility of French specialists of the Cold War, who would then be able to present their research more systematically and openly in foreign countries. On the other hand, by leading new collective works on Europe and the Cold War. Three international collaborative projects are, among others, planned in this program. The first, organized in conjunction with the CIMA (Rome), is entitled 'Europe, the Euromissiles Crisis, and the End of the East-West Conflict (1977-1987) : Revisiting a Key Moment of the Cold War' (2009-2010). The second on 'France and the German Question, 1945-1990,' would be a joint-project with the Institut Für Zeitgeschichte of Munich and is tentatively set for 2011. Finally, a third project on 'Mitterrand, Gorbachev, and the End of the Cold War (1985-1991)' and co-organized with the Gorbachev Foundation and the Institut François Mitterrand would culminate in 2012. Along with this project, a publication and commentary of compiled archival documents of particular interest to the history of Franco-Soviet relations during the Cold War period has been planned.