The CSCE Follow-up Meeting in Vienna (1986–1989)

Results

When people think of the end of the Cold War, many recall the fall of the Berlin Wall or the opening of the border between Austria and Hungary. Far less often do they mention a process that had begun more than two decades earlier: the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). It provided a forum for communication across the bloc divisions of the Cold War. The 35 participating states negotiated the future shape of their mutual relations.
The third CSCE Follow-up Meeting, held in Vienna from 1986 to 1989, is regarded as the second high point of the CSCE process after the conclusion of the first conference in 1975. Particularly in the field of humanitarian issues, far-reaching achievements were made. The project examined which factors and groups of actors were decisive in bringing these about. To this end, documents from various archives were analyzed. In addition, interviews were conducted with contemporary witnesses, media coverage was examined, and memoirs and writings by diplomats were taken into account.
The analysis of this body of sources highlights several aspects that contributed to the success of the Vienna Follow-up Meeting. First, improving East–West relations, especially the relationship between the two superpowers, had an impact on the negotiations. Second, civil rights and human rights organizations increasingly influenced the negotiations both directly and indirectly. They approached delegations through letters and personal conversations, while also attracting public attention through panel discussions and other events. It was precisely this public sphere that constituted the third factor shaping the negotiations.
One factor in particular must not be overlooked when analyzing the development of the Vienna Follow-up Meeting: the role of Mikhail Gorbachev as the new leader of the Soviet Union. Even before the Vienna meeting, he had initiated a new human rights policy that influenced the negotiations. Nor should one underestimate the importance of change in several Eastern European states for the Vienna Follow-up Meeting. The Warsaw Pact was no longer a monolithic bloc, and the Soviet Union was no longer simply its mouthpiece. Over the course of the negotiations, the individual states increasingly sought to pursue their own interests.
All of these developments made it possible in Vienna to negotiate issues that had still been taboo at previous meetings. Among the most important outcomes of the Vienna Follow-up Meeting were measures facilitating family reunification, improved working conditions for journalists, and provisions granting human rights organizations greater freedom of action. The most significant innovation was the so-called Vienna Mechanism. It made it possible to address human rights violations outside formal CSCE meetings as well, thereby increasing pressure on the state concerned to act. In sum, it can be concluded that it was the interplay of many factors that enabled the Vienna CSCE Follow-up Meeting to conclude with such a comprehensive final document.

Publications

Hechenblaikner, Nina/Brait, Andrea (Hrsg.): Freedom and Security. The CSCE and the End of the Cold War (1986–1989) (New Perspectives on the Cold War 12), Leiden/Boston 2026, DOI: 10.1163/9789004736979.
Hechenblaikner, Nina/Brait, Andrea: The CSCE Follow-up Meeting in Vienna (1986–1989). An Introduction, in: Hechenblaikner, Nina/Brait, Andrea (Hrsg.): Freedom and Security. The CSCE and the End of the Cold War (1986–1989) (New Perspectives on the Cold War 12), Leiden/Boston 2026, S. 1–18, DOI: 10.1163/9789004736979_002.
Brait, Andrea: Negotiations on Cultural Cooperation at the Vienna Follow-up Meeting from the Perspective of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, in: Hechenblaikner, Nina/Brait, Andrea (Hrsg.): Freedom and Security. The CSCE and the End of the Cold War (1986–1989) (New Perspectives on the Cold War 12), Leiden/Boston 2026, S. 70–83, DOI: 10.1163/9789004736979_007.
Laimer, Roland Ernst: The “Neglected Step-Child” of the Vienna CSCE Follow-up Meeting? Basket II from the Perspective of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, in: Hechenblaikner, Nina/Brait, Andrea (Hrsg.): Freedom and Security. The CSCE and the End of the Cold War (1986–1989) (New Perspectives on the Cold War 12), Leiden/Boston 2026, S. 84–93. DOI: 10.1163/9789004736979_008.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Front Page News or Side Note? The Human Dimension of the Vienna CSCE Follow-up Meeting in Austrian and West German Newspapers, in: Hechenblaikner, Nina/Brait, Andrea (Hrsg.): Freedom and Security. The CSCE and the End of the Cold War (1986–1989) (New Perspectives on the Cold War 12), Leiden/Boston 2026, S. 94–105. DOI: 10.1163/9789004736979_009.
Habel, Kai/Hechenblaikner, Nina/Kaiser, Jonas/Schrenk, Willi (Eds.): Diplomatie am Ende des Kalten Krieges. Erinnerungen an die dritte KSZE-Folgekonferenz in Wien (1986–1989) (Historische Europastudien 29), Baden-Baden 2025, DOI: 10.5771/9783487423944.
Habel, Kai/Hechenblaikner, Nina/Kaiser, Jonas/Schrenk, Willi: Stimmen aus Wien. Das Wiener Folgetreffen (1986–1989) in Erinnerungen von Zeitzeuginnen und Zeitzeugen, in: Habel, Kai/Hechenblaikner, Nina/Kaiser, Jonas/Schrenk, Willi (Eds.): Diplomatie am Ende des Kalten Krieges. Erinnerungen an die dritte KSZE-Folgekonferenz in Wien (1986–1989) (Historische Europastudien 29), Baden-Baden 2025, p. 11–47, DOI: 10.5771/9783487423944-11.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Diplomatie und ihre Einflüsse. Prägende Akteursgruppen für die Verhandlungen zur humanitären Dimension beim KSZE-Folgetreffen in Wien (1986–1989), in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften 35 (2024) 2, p. 154–173, DOI: 10.25365/oezg-2024-35-2-8.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Die humanitäre Dimension des KSZE-Prozesses und das Ende des Kalten Krieges, in: Nagornaia, Oskana/Fieseler, Beate (Eds.), Der Zerfall der Sowjetunion und das Ende der DDR als historische Zäsuren, Wiesbaden 2024, p. 15–26, DOI: 10.13173/9783447122269.i.
Laimer, Roland Ernst: Die KSZE und der Umweltschutz. Korb II beim Wiener KSZE-Folgetreffen (1986–1989) aus der Perspektive der Ballhausplatzdiplomatie, Innsbruck 2023 (Masterarbeit).

Conference

Freiheit und Sicherheit. Die KSZE und das Ende des Kalten Krieges (1986–1989), Innsbruck (online), 17./18. November 2022 –Tagungsbericht

Presentations

Brait, Andrea: Kulturelle Zusammenarbeit als KSZE-Verhandlungsgegenstand Ende der 1980er-Jahre, Kulturgutverletzungen und die Erosion des Völkerrechts – das Recht des Stärkeren?, Krems 05.11.2025.
Brait, Andrea: Steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein? Verhandlungen zu kulturellen Kooperationen am Wiener Folgetreffen, Freiheit und Sicherheit am Ende des Kalten Krieges (1986–1989), Innsbruck (online) 17.11.2022.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: „Das war damals eine Aufbruchsatmosphäre“. Die Berichterstattung über das dritte KSZE-Folgetreffen in Wien (1986–1989), 15. Österreichischer Zeitgeschichtetag, Graz 13.04.2024.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Schlagzeile oder Randnotiz? Die humanitäre Dimension der Wiener KSZE-Folgekonferenz in österreichischen und bundesdeutschen Tageszeitungen, Freiheit und Sicherheit am Ende des Kalten Krieges (1986–1989), Innsbruck (online) 17.11.2022.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: The importance of networks. Human Rights at the third CSCE Follow-up Meeting in Vienna (1986–1989), Workshop Neutral States and Non-State actors and Geopolitics, Freiburg 11.11.2022.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Die Überwindung der Teilung Europas. Das dritte KSZE-Folgetreffen in Wien (1968–1989), Workshop: Teilungen Europas – Ideen, Politik, Praktiken, Toblach 06.05.2022.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Die humanitäre Dimension des KSZE-Folgetreffens in Wien. Menschenreche am Ende des Kalten Krieges, 14. Österreichischer Zeitgeschichtetag, Salzburg 21.04.2022.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Durchbruch bei den Menschenrechten? Die humanitäre Dimension des dritten KSZE-Folgetreffens in Wien (1986–1989), Nachwuchsworkshop der DRGK, Düsseldorf (online), 11.01.2022.
Hechenblaikner, Nina/Oberbichler, Sarah: Research with digitized historical newspaper in practice. Challenges, methods and collaboration, ONB Labs Symposium 2021, Wien (online) 24.11.2021.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: „Wir hoffen auf Ihre Hilfe!“. Die humanitäre Dimension des dritten KSZE-Folgetreffens in Wien (1986–1989), Workshop on Cold War Studies, Berlin 5.11.2021.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Breakthrough in Human Rights? The CSCE Follow-Up Meeting in Vienna, The CSCE Follow-up Meeting in Vienna (1986–1989). Struggling for Human Rights and European Security at the End of the Cold War, Genf 22.10.2021.
Hechenblaikner, Nina: Durchbruch bei den Menschenrechte? Die Auswirkung des Wandels in Osteuropa auf das KSZE-Folgetreffen in Wien, Forschungskolloquium der Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, Hildesheim (online) 16.06.2021.
Laimer, Roland: Das „Stiefkind“ der Wiener KSZE-Konferenz? Korb II aus der Perspektive der Ballhausplatzdiplomatie, Freiheit und Sicherheit am Ende des Kalten Krieges (1986–1989), Innsbruck (online) 17.11.2022.