How U.S.-Soviet Scientific and Technical Exchanges Helped End the Cold War.

• Author: Krasnyak, Olga

U.S.-Soviet exchanges in the Cold War

Given the ambiguity of the rapidly changing world order, scholars and practitioners are paying more attention to the Cold War period, with its growing relevance for contemporary world politics. Issues such as the NATO alliance, human rights, arms control, and environment impact international relations at large and U.S.-Russia relations in particular. The need to reemphasize the value of scientists as a channel of communication between governments and their research communities is urgent. (i)

The state of U.S.-Russia relations is currently at one of its lower points. Political relations continue to be strained. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987 has been abandoned, bringing the world into a new era of uncertainty. In both countries, the official narratives revolve around an adversarial image about the other. Relations are in a vicious cycle of suspicion, mistrust, and mutual hostility.

In the post-1945 world amid Cold War tensions, however, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were able to negotiate on a number of issues, even when relations were deadlocked and the two superpowers were on the brink of nuclear war.

Cold War diplomacy produced critical armament control treaties--the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) to name but a few. In all these cases, scientific and technical people-to-people exchanges were critical for enabling communication and dialogue.

People-to-people exchanges began with the 'Lacy-Zarubin Agreement' signed in 1957. The agreement reinforced scientific contacts in space and medicine," and laid out the terms for exchanges between the two parties in what evolved into an Interacademy Scientific Exchanges agreement renewable every two to three years. (iii) In the following decades, the agreement remained unbroken. The latest agreement was prepared in 1984 (iv) but finalized two years later. (v)

The exchanges were symmetrical. If an American delegation visited the Soviet Union for a joint conference, then a Soviet delegation visited the U.S. for a similar joint conference.

The exchanges had a positive impact on bilateral relations and wider implications in world politics. State leaders--Nixon and Brezhnev in the early years of detente and Reagan and Gorbachev by the end of the Cold War--whether driven by domestic or international politics or both, ultimately aimed to improve relations and sustain a peaceful coexistence.

How did communication and cooperation between American and Soviet scientists and diplomats help prevent war, lead to arms control agreements, and address global challenges? Jack F. Matlock, a former Ambassador to the Soviet Union who promoted people-to-people exchanges, saw them as a key component...