The Netherlands and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1973-1983): "Firm, but inconspicuous"

This article reconsiders the role of the Netherlands in the Conference on Security and Cooperation (CSCE) in Europe in times of both détente (1973-1979) and crisis (1980-1983). This conference was meant to channel the Cold War into a more peaceful direction, but soon turned into a clash of Western and Eastern European values. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this article argues that the Dutch were not primarily concerned with propagating human rights during this process, but rather with maintaining Western European unity and mediating between the members of the European Community and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Moreover, the Dutch priority shifted from European Political Cooperation during détente to a greater emphasis on NATO and cooperation with the Americans in times of crisis. Pragmatic rather than idealistic, the Dutch contribution to peace in Cold War Europe resided more in its willingness to compromise, than in its principled defence of human rights