Beyond the superpower conflict: Introduction to VJHS special issue on cultural exchanges during the Cold War

Abstract

Research on Cold War has often been considered to a separate research paradigm and has thus been given the same of Cold War Studies. There are journals, research centers and institutions in the western countries many of which were born already during the Cold War. The Cold War was a western paradigm that was partly adopted in the socialist countries during the Cold War, but mainly as a concept outside scholarly research. Cold War studies used to be very political by nature, concentrating on international politics, high-level diplomacy and military affairs. But since the end of the Cold War, drastic changes have taken place in the field. Culture and social approaches that were hardly even in the margins within the Cold War studies have quickly transformed the whole field. One of the important factors for this was the opening of borders and access to primary sources that had remained closed for most researchers throughout the Cold War. This change is well reflected in the articles of this volume.