Friedenswissenschaften im Kalten Krieg

In the 80s the political debate on international security and disarmament became a matter of public concern in Europe. People felt the – still fragile – process of East-West détente was going to be endangered by a "Second Cold War". Within the framework of a large peace movement new groups of academic experts increased political awareness by fundamentally critizing the concept of nuclear deterrence and through that opened minds for a "new thinking" between East and West.
The author describes and analyzes the historical sources and the actual moderating role of scientists during that decade in Germany, their impacts on the public opinion and the academic sphere, as well as their peace-oriented impulses both towards domestic politics and the East-West dialogue.
This study of contemporary history also stimulates the ongoing discussion of the transdisciplinary aspects and needs for peace-building and conflict management in the post-Cold War era.
The author is co-editor of a German quarterly magazine "Wissenschaft und Frieden" and has been working since 1994 at the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC).