The last decade of the Cold War witnessed the transformation of world politics with the collapse of one-party Communist rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. This book explains how it happened and why.

Part 1: The 1980s in Historical Context 1. The 1980s Revisited or the Cold War as History - Again 2. The Beginning and the End: Time, context and the Cold War 3. The European Role in the Beginning and Particularly the End of the Cold War Part 2: Explaining the Shift in Soviet Thinking and Policy 4. Economic Constraints and the Turn toward Superpower Cooperation in the 1980s 5. Explaining the End of the Cold War: Turning points in Soviet security policy 6. The Sources of 'New Thinking' in Soviet Politics 7. The Messianic Character of Gorbachev's 'New Thinking': Why and what for? Part 3: The United States and the Ending of the Cold War 8. The US Role in Winding Down the Cold War, 1980-90 9. The Carter Legacy: Entering the second era of the Cold War 10. The US and the Transformation of the Cold War 11. Reagan's Anti-revolutionary Offensive in the Third World Part 4: Europe in the Last Decade of the Cold War 12. Germany in the Last Decade of the Cold War 13. Before the Wall: French diplomacy and the last decade of the Cold War, 1979-89 14. Helping to Open the Door?: Britain in the last decade of the Cold War 15. Italy and the Battle of the Euromissiles 16. NATO's Northern Frontline in the 1980s 17. Playground of Superpowers: Poland 1980-89 - A view from inside 18. Did Gorbachev Liberate Eastern Europe?