USC IR 369 - Discussion: Midterm Review (5 pages)

Discussion Midterm review 01 11 2011 19 13 00 Reykjavik summit Reagan and Gorbachev http www gwu edu nsarchiv NSAEBB NSAEBB203 index htm Standing directly outside summit are 100s of reporters if someone leaves summit early Disaster at summit so they have ways to kill time Its all about the press release more so than their internal discussions If they changed one word laboratory there might not be nuclear weapons today Document 15 by the end of 1996 strategic offensive arms between US and Soviet union be completed eliminated o How does this fall apart Negotiations o Redlines instructions to NOT give up certain thing you can give up X you can give up Y but NEVER give up Z o Soviet redline STI only allowed to be in laboratories it became very apparent which made the whole deal fall apart o Mutually incompatible redline good negotiation class activity to give this so you CANNOT reach an agreement Document 16 the Russian version Document 20 IF one bullet to the head of the leader can change an entire country country is not very secure The case with Gorbachev and Soviet Union President Reagan o See a sharp shift between 1st term and 2nd term Ivan and Ania speech two people that like each other wont kill each other new idea to rid of nuclear weapons o Not good at details early stages of Alzheimer s but amazing communicator Crucial moment Gorbachev told Reagan you re serious you cannot confine it to a laboratory and Reagan slid a paper to advisor asking if he was right advisor said YES How would NO have changed things Misunderstanding that lead to the opening of the wall Schabowki council of ministers announced travel was allowed from West to east and east to west unclearly and reporters started announcing on TV that the borders were open and at this point they couldn t stop it Border guards were caught by surprise of Schakowsky s words If you were a journalist in this room and had 3 min to announce to the world what had happened how would you report it Schabowki intended to say that they had loosened up travel restrictions but the public was leaps ahead of the govt The public saw what was happening in Hungary people just walking across the borders So when government just wanted to make it easier to get visas people were ready to open the wall Didn t even tell border guards nobody informed Soviet union or Gorbachev Nobody wakes up Soviet leadership because in Moscow they re asleep so the underlings just went with it Gorbachev finds out in the morning All lead to fall of soviet union in 1991 Re closed some of the borders that night used force to do so Punctuated equilibrium Term by Steven J Gould evolutionary biologist Gould saw HUGE sudden changes rather than a little bit of evolution everyday Long periods where things stay the same then sudden big changes punctuated equilibrium This concept has been applied to social sciences such as IR Moments of accelerated change Applied to 1989 Punctuation November 10th 1989 fall of Berlin wall and immediate change from Cold war world order Professor Sarotte s Book Why was Thatcher so adamant about German reunification o Thatcher is consistent great virtue of Thatcher is her consistency that is rare among political leaders o She had deep rooted anxiety about Germany that she never lost she was very attached to the cold war order because she was the most successful politician in it o Political misstep she didn t realize how far along it was she thought she could stop it but she couldn t France realized they could NOT stop it so he gets ahead of the process and decides if German reunifies then they want a common currency She ran into A LOT of surprises in researching her book Famous cake incident Thatcher and Kohl rising stars in their parties and could NOT stand each other He ended the meeting early saying there was an emergency then he walked to caf and ordered a cake MIDTERM NO current news item 2 Short IDS you will have a choice 1 essay 4 readings o Pinder and Usherwood o Marsh o Her Book o Reykjavik File Themes o Things that went right in cold war Europe European integration Peaceful end to Cold War 2nd half of 20th century was successful period in European politics 01 11 2011 19 13 00 01 11 2011 19 13 00