A Cold War endgame or an opportunity missed? Analysing the Soviet collapse Thirty years later

Cold War History organised this roundtable to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union - one of the two superpower poles that defined the Cold War confrontation and international order. In recent decades, historians have begun to write about 'global Cold War(s)', seeking to move the focus away from the superpowers and enhance the roles of other actors. While the United States still looms central in this new research, due to the predominance of US scholars, the English language and the accessibility of archives, the Soviet Union has begun to fade from the literature on the Cold War, sometimes making a cameo appearance, sometimes appearing only as a footnote. It is understandable that fewer people want to study the foreign policy of a vanished state. There is also a perceived impression that Moscow archives are largely closed - while there has actually been a declassification of massive collections of Soviet documents on external political and diplomatic affairs. There is a danger that the Soviet Union will fade away quietly from the study of the Cold War, just as it was eclipsed in 1991 by international politics.