Speaker: Stephan Kieninger, independent historian
Respondent: Leopoldo Nuti, Professor of History of International Relations at Roma Tre University and Co-Director of the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.
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Abstract:
This paper investigates into George Shultz’s key role on the road to the INF Treaty arguing that Shultz’s focus on process and personal diplomacy was crucial for the success of the Reagan Administration’s arms control policy even prior to Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power in March 1985. Shultz’s two-track diplomacy combined a firm defence and a willingness to see a constructive relationship with the Soviet Union emerge. Shultz put emphasis on process instead of geopolitics and linkage arguing that his new approach would facilitate the establishment of a broad framework for nuclear arms control. Starting in 1985, George Shultz played a pivotal role in Ronald Reagan’s and Mikhail Gorbachev’s nuclear summitry. He practiced arms control diplomacy as a continuous confidence-building exercise and helped Reagan and Gorbachev to create an upward spiral of trust. Last but not least, the paper looks into George Shultz’s successful management of NATO’s internal arms control discussions. The U.S.-Soviet INF negotiations had enormous impact on European security: The INF Treaty lowered the threat of nuclear war in Europe substantially and paved the way for negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons and conventional forces in Europe.
Speaker bio:
Stephan Kieninger is an independent historian and the author of two books on the history of détente and Euro-Atlantic security: The Diplomacy of Détente. Cooperative Security Policies from Helmut Schmidt to George Shultz (London: Routledge, 2018) and Dynamic Détente. The United States and Europe, 1964–1975 (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). His current research looks into U.S. foreign policy in the post-Cold War years. He received his Ph.D. from Mannheim University in 2011. Formerly, he was a postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins SAIS, a fellow at the Berlin Center for Cold War Studies, and a senior researcher at the Federal German Archives.
Respondent bio:
Leopoldo Nuti (Siena, 1958), is Professor of History of International Relations at Roma Tre University and Co-Director of the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project. From 2014 to 2018 he was President of the Italian Society of International History. He has published extensively in Italian, English and French on US-Italian relations and Italian foreign and security policy.