ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how two small countries, situated on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, developed a new type of interaction during the 1970s. The decade can be characterized by the détente in East-West relations, with the general relaxation culminating in the negotiation process leading to the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The CSCE brought a significant change to the Cold War bipolarity by introducing a safe arena where representatives of Eastern and Western countries could meet more freely. The CSCE provided an institutional framework for multilateralism that particularly served the interests of the small countries with limited elbowroom. For these countries, the CSCE offered – for the first time in the Cold War period – the opportunity to cross the Iron Curtain and establish political contacts that were not regulated by the bloc-leader superpowers. By performing actively on this multilateral stage, these countries were able to further their national aims more effectively. Therefore, keeping the CSCE process alive just to maintain this arena of interaction became a goal that was shared in common by the smaller countries.
