«Les Relations Dangereuses»: French Socialists, Communists and the Human Rights Issue in the Soviet Bloc

ISBN-13: 9789052018430 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 210 str.

Valentine Lomellini

Opis

Since the mid-1960s, Western public opinion has focused on the issue of human rights violations in the Soviet bloc, which has been a matter for increasing concern. Growing Dissent in Eastern European countries and the CSCE process compelled the Left in Western Europe to face the contradictions and inconsistencies of the communist countries. This issue became a key topic in domestic political debate in France a country of freedom by definition where many Eastern European emigres established themselves.
In this book, Dissent is used as a prism through which to study relations between the Parti Communiste and the Parti Socialiste in France, and Eastern European governments. The main focus is the political confrontation between the two main parties of the French Left from the union de la gauche to their cohabitation in government in the early 1980s.
The study is based on wide-reaching research using primary archive documents, as well as press analyses and interviews, mainly in France and Italy, but also in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain and the Netherlands. The book examines international relations, domestic policies and cultural history to paint a complex picture of the fight for leadership of the French Left during the 1970s."

Spis treści

Contents: Four terms comparison among the French and Italian Socialists and Communists - The relationship between the Western Left and the Soviet bloc - The issue of human rights in the Soviet bloc during the Cold War - The Prague Spring and its aftermath - The international relationships of the Italian and French Left during the 1970s - The international relations of the Eastern Dissent - The Cold War and its consequences in political parties' relationships.

O autorze

Valentine Lomellini is Research Fellow at the Department of Political Sciences, Law and International Studies, University of Padua. In 2009, she was awarded the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic and the Simone Veil Grant by the Academia Europea de Yuste (Spain). She is the author of L'appuntamento mancato. La Sinistra italiana ed il Dissenso nei regimi comunisti, 1968-1989 and is currently working on the relations between the PCI and the United States.