9. The Eastern and Western Blocs in the 1960s

Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent

This chapter provides an overview of the Eastern and Western blocs in the 1960s. It first considers US–Soviet relations from the Cuban missile crisis to détente spanning the period 1963–1971, focusing on the talks between Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy regarding the Test Ban Treaty, before discussing the superpowers’ relations with China. It then explores unity and division in Eastern Europe and in the Western bloc, taking into account the European Economic Community, NATO, and the Western economies in the 1960s. It also analyses the rise of European détente, covering topics such as progress on pan-European contacts and the emergence of Ostpolitik.

Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent

This chapter provides an overview of the Eastern and Western blocs in the 1960s. It first considers US–Soviet relations from the Cuban Missile Crisis to détente spanning the period 1963–71, focusing on the talks between Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy regarding the Test Ban Treaty, before discussing the superpowers’ relations with China. It then explores unity and division in Eastern Europe and in the Western bloc, taking into account the European Economic Community (EEC), NATO, and the Western economies in the 1960s. It also analyses the rise of European détente, covering topics such as progress on pan-European contacts and the emergence of Ostpolitik.


Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns

This chapter focuses on the ‘other’ European communities and the origins of the European Economic Community (EEC). Negotiations over a plan for a European Defence Community (EDC) ran parallel to those over the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Connected with the EDC was a proposal to create a European Political Community (EPC) to provide democratic European structures for co-ordinating foreign policies. This chapter first considers the Pleven Plan for an EDC, before discussing the development of the EDC/EPC plan and the ultimate failure to reach agreement in 1954. It also analyses the Messina negotiations and the road to the Treaties of Rome. Finally, it looks at the experience of the other organization that was created at the same time as the EEC, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), which, like the ECSC, was institutionally merged with the EEC in 1967.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. White ◽  
Morgan P. Miles ◽  
E. James Randall

The European Economic Community is overshadowing the great market potential of the emerging, newly liberated Eastern Bloc countries. Entering these formerly communist markets is challenging because of a lack of sound economies and weak currencies. This paper develops a model whereby North American businesses enter these markets and accept local currencies for products and services, purchase local goods with the local currency and then sell these goods through international commodity exchanges.


2021 ◽  
pp. 137-158
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas

This chapter uses extensive archival evidence to demonstrate how the membership norm adopted by the community in early 1962—that only parliamentary democracies are eligible for membership—shaped European Economic Community decisions on Spain, Turkey, and Greece in the 1960s. Despite its prior openness to Madrid, the EEC rejected Spain’s quest for association in 1962 after trade union activists and members of the European parliament highlighted the gap between the new norm and the repressiveness of the Spanish regime. Despite deep concerns about the under-developed state of the Turkish economy, the EEC approved an association agreement in 1963 that recognized Turkey’s membership eligibility after the country re-established its democratic institutions. And despite the advanced state of the association agreement with Greece, the EEC froze further developments following that country’s military coup in 1967 and linked further progress to a restoration of democracy in Athens.


2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Schenk

Throughout the 1960s the international monetary system crumbled in a gradual process which was punctuated by a series of crises. The international community proposed, debated and ultimately procrastinated over major reforms, and opted instead for ad hoc ‘plumbing’ solutions such as the Gold Pool and bilateral currency swaps. While this turmoil unfolded, Britain made repeated attempts to join the European Economic Community. This article shows that while monetary issues were not as often publicly discussed, they were a crucial factor in the negotiations for British membership. It also aims to bring together the discussions on the reform of the international monetary system in the 1960s with those on the enlargement of the EC.


Author(s):  
Vitalii Mikhailovich Peshkin

The subject of this research is the historical conditions for the creation of Visegrád Group – subregional organization of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. The collapse of the system of pro-communist regimes in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe allowed the local dissident circles to create the “ideological” framework for subregional organization, which is based on the idea of the Central European identity. In the late 1980s, the idea of subregional cooperation in the socialist camp won support of a number of Western European countries. However, the initiative on the development regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe was taken over by the United States. The United States prompted the decision of the G7 member-states on the transfer of the European Commission a coordinating role in assisting Poland and Hungary as the flagships for conducting political and economic liberalization in Central and Eastern Europe. The novelty of this research consists in the analysis of attempts of subregional cooperation outside the framework of the European Economic Community in the late 1980s. Attention is also given to the previously unstudied criticism of the process of accession of the countries of Visegrád Group to the European Economic Community. Critical assessments substantiated by ineffectiveness of the programs of assisting the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as by posing threats to the stability of the European Economic Community member-states due to inclusion of the former socialist countries into the united Europe. The main conclusion lies in the statement that the collapse of the socialist camp at the turn of the 1980s – 1990s actualized the pursuit of identity in the new world by the Central and Eastern European countries. The oath of European integration was selected as a universal method for solution of this problem. However, regional cooperation remained a relevant question, since rapprochement with the Western Europe alone could not eliminate all the contradictions between the countries. The cooperation between Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia became the most successful example of such cooperation and served as the prototype for creation of other subregional structures.


Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns

This chapter focuses on the first years of the European Economic Community (EEC). It describes the early 1960s as a period of apparent success for the supranational elements within the EEC, noting the rapid progress made towards the creation of both a common market and a common agricultural policy. The chapter also examines the crisis sparked by France’s decision to boycott meetings of the Council of Ministers in response to proposals for a more supranational method of funding the EEC budget; the impact of this crisis on the process of European integration; the so-called Luxembourg Compromise; and the Hague Summit. It concludes by discussing the EEC’s expansion of its membership at the start of the 1970s, as well as its first moves towards an Economic and Monetary Union and a Common Foreign and Security Policy.


Author(s):  
Ian Bache ◽  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Owen Parker

This chapter focuses on the first years of the European Economic Community (EEC). It describes the early 1960s as a period of apparent success for the supranational elements within the EEC, noting the rapid progress made towards the creation of both a common market and a common agricultural policy. The chapter also examines the crisis sparked by France’s decision to boycott meetings of the Council of Ministers in response to proposals for a more supranational method of funding the EEC budget; the impact of this crisis on the process of European integration; the so-called Luxembourg Compromise; and the Hague Summit. It concludes by discussing the EEC’s expansion of its membership at the start of the 1970s, as well as its first moves towards an Economic and Monetary Union and a Common Foreign and Security Policy.


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