ABSTRACT
The Helsinki agenda was shaped as much by fear as by hope. The Soviet Union feared a resurgent Germany on its western flank, China on its eastern flank, and chronic unrest within its new empire in Eastern Europe. It hoped that a security conference would finally settle the division of Europe and bring in more Western technology to help its ailing economy.
The West also feared a resurgent Germany but responded by binding West Germany into Western institutions. It feared an actual or implied military threat from Moscow, and a political threat from communist ideology, both externally from the Soviet Union and internally from Western communist parties. It scared itself with visions of the “Finlandisation” of Western Europe, meaning de facto subservience to Moscow.
