Did the fall of the Berlin Wall really herald “the End of History”? What happened to the rise of liberal democracy? Is there a New Cold War or an unfinished post-Cold War settlement? And is the annexation of Crimea a cause or a symptom of the current crisis in European security?

Over the last thirty years, the European political landscape has changed dramatically, but not quite in the way that was foreseen in 1989. European security is still under threat, human rights are continuously challenged, relations with Russia have plummeted, and Western institutions are no longer taken for granted.

Recently, three books have been published by scholars from Utrecht University which deal with all these issues from the perspective of the Cold War. Unveiling the latest evidence on the role of smaller powers in Cold War Europe, East West relations, and the consequences of the Cold War’s end for the West, these books raise a lot of pressing issues.

In this symposium, the books in questions will form the starting-point for a lively discussion on the Cold War and its repercussions today. In his keynote speech the former Dutch prime minister, Ben Bot, will dwell on the issues at stake from his own experience, and Piers Ludlow, expert on European international relations, will provide the broader context leading to a lively discussion with the audience.