ABSTRACT
The Helsinki Process takes its name from the spectacular summit conference in Helsinki, where, on 1 August 1975, leaders of 35 nations signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). This long document, which had taken nearly three years to negotiate, was much misunderstood at the time but turned out to have a lasting impact on the Cold War and subsequent European history. It put human rights on the agenda of international relations, stimulated dissent in the Soviet Union and its empire, contributed to the peaceful end of the Cold War, and gave birth to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is still at work today promoting democracy and human rights among its now 57 members.
