Firm, but inconspicuous. The Netherlands and the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (1973-1983)

This article reconsiders the role of the Netherlands in the Conference on Security and Cooperation (CSCE) in Europe in times of both detente (1973-1979) and crisis (1980-1983). This conference was meant to channel the Cold War in a more peaceful direction, but soon turned into a clash between Western and Eastern European values. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this article argues that the Dutch were not primarily concerned with advancing human rights, 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 Co-operation during detente to a greater emphasis on NATO and co-operation with the Americans in times of crisis. Pragmatic rather than idealistic, the Dutch contribution to peace in Cold War Europe consisted more in its willingness to compromise than in its principled defence of human rights.